Steganographic Alias Files

SoftwareShield System Feature Guide > Alias Files > Steganographic Alias Files

## Steganographic Alias Files

You should already have read: How to Create Alias Files and Alias Files.

Steganographic alias files are actual bitmap image files which hide a cryptographically secure hash of the Main License File inside the color values of its pixels.

These files should be 24 bit-per-pixel, color, windows .bmp images that contain some image (not blank) and are between 64 x 64 and 128 x 128. in size. Be sure the name you give your Steganographic Alias File in your license project exactly matches the name of the physical bitmap file that you will distribute.

Steganographic alias files are the only kind of alias file that you must distribute with your application. Hidden alias files and registry alias files are both created at run-time when required.

This original bitmap file must be deployed in the same directory as your Main License File (distributed license file).

We suggest you use your company logo for this image, however, any image will do. We also suggest that the image you use be no larger than 128 x 128 because this will dramatically affect the processing time.

To illustrate how effective the SoftwareShield Steganographic algorithm is at hiding your data, we have embedded approximately 200 words (about two paragraphs) of text inside the following small logo. The images on the left are the sample original logo (92 x 64 pixels) pictured on the right is the same logo with two entire paragraphs of text steganographic embedded inside it. Can you see the difference in the regular sized image? We have enlarged both images 3x times for your close inspection. To maximize its effectiveness the SoftwareShield Steganographic embedding algorithm even detects the edges of objects inside your image and hides the data there. The edges of the objects in the image are the places where the human eye is least likely to see any difference. Look for minute differences in the edges of the logos below - you will see it is almost impossible to see any difference at all without blowing it up several times!

Original Bitmap | Steganographic Embedded Bitmap
Normal size | Normal Size
3x normal size | 3 x normal size

### More Information

For help in understanding how to create Alias Files in general, see How to Create Alias Files.

For help in actually creating Steganographic Alias File definitions for your license, see Creating Steganographic Alias Files in the SoftwareShield License Manager Reference.