A Storm Pro password can
be 10000 characters long and you may easily copy/paste it
from any online or offline document. Alternatively, you
can import your Storm Pro password from any file (2GB large
maximum). As a result, your confidential file will be physically
destroyed and encrypted inside your video clip which will
open and play normally without any modification in quality
or duration. With Storm Pro you can hide any file inside
any JPEG, GIF, BMP, MP3, WAV, RM, AVI, WMA, MPEG, DAT, WMV,
EXE, DLL file among many other file types.
Storm requires the following software/hardware
minimal configuration:
- A 100% Windows 98/ME/NT/2K/XP
compatible computer system
- Pentium 166MHZ or better
- 64MB RAM or better
- 2MB hard disk space minimum
- Microsoft Windows 98/ME/NT/2K/XP
English or Western language operating system
  Discover
SuperStorm Pro.
MAIN FEATURES
- Storm Pro can hide any confidential
file in any picture, audio, video, executable file, and
more. It can handle large data files easily (the output
file size limit is 2GB).
- Storm Pro does not affect in any way
the display, quality, duration, or operation of the files
in which you hide your confidential files. Actually, your
pictures, audio, video, and executable files will look,
sound, and function exactly the same way after you hide
your confidential data inside them.
- Storm Pro can hide an unlimited number
of confidential files inside the same file.
- Storm Pro allows you to associate
a hidden file with a password (up to 10000 characters)
which the user must enter in order to extract the hidden
file correctly.
- Storm Pro passwords are not stored
in any file. They are used dynamically during the encryption
and decryption processes.
- You may use any file (2 GB large max.)
as your Storm Pro password!
- Storm Pro preserves the dates of both
the hosting and hosted files.
- Storm Pro physically erases your confidential
files automatically after hiding them. No file recovery
software can recover a physically deleted file.
- Storm Pro is a single pre-configured
program file which can be launched from the hard disk
as well as any removable disk.
- Storm Pro executable is only 48KB
large (version 1.5).
- Storm Pro is not required to extract
a confidential file. Users may download the free Storm
version available on the Internet and use it to extract
a confidential file previously hidden inside a media file
(picture, audio, video, executable, etc.) using either
Storm Pro or Storm Freeware. The free Storm version can
also be used to specify a password if the extraction process
requires it. However, Storm freeware 1.0 cannot be used
to decrypt a file previously encrypted with a password
file using Storm Pro 1.5 (or later).
- Storm Pro is compatible with
all modern Windows 32-bit operating systems.
STORM IN THE
PRESS
Neil J. Rubenking from PC Magazine
wrote:
"To
keep a sensitive document secret you could write it in
cipher and stick it in a safe. But burglars open safes
and cryptologists break ciphers; slipping the document
between the pages of one book on a shelf of thousands
might protect it better. Storm Pro takes a similar approach..."
"...Storm
Pro is a quirky product that may appeal to James Bond
wannabies, or to those with serious secrets. Rather than
protect files with the latest in cryptographic algorithms,
it hides the fact that there's anything to hide. If you
truly need it for even one file, it's well worth the price."
Click
here for more...
READ
FULL ARTICLE
FREQUENTLY ASKED
QUESTIONS
IMPORTANT!
FREQUENTLY ENCOUNTERED ISSUE...
When
the Storm documentation asks you to press and hold the Shift
(or Control) key, you should not release the Shift (or Control)
key until Storm displays the "Processing... please
wait" message or it informs you that the operation
was successful. In other words, you should keep the Shift
(or Control) key down while pressing and releasing Enter
(to launch Storm's executable). If you don't hold the Shift
(or Control) key down long enough, the file operations will
not be initiated!
Q. What is the difference
between Storm Pro version 1.0 and version 1.5?
Q. How do I hide/show
more than one confidential file in the same media file?
Q. How do I choose, manage,
and remember my Storm Pro passwords?
Q. Storm Pro and Storm
Freeware executable files have no associated icons. Why?
Q. I have hidden a confidential
file in a JPEG picture which I saved on my flash disk. I
would like to recover my confidential file at my office
where I don't have access to the Internet. I suppose I need
to have my Storm program on my flash disk as well. Any recommendations?
Q. When I attempt to
rename the media file to output while extracting multiple
files from the same file, Windows refuse to rename the file
because a file with the same name already exists. What should
I do?
Q.
What is the difference between Storm Pro version 1.0 and
version 1.5?
A.
Version 1.5 has exactly the same features as 1.0 and is
100% backward-compatible but it allows you in addition to
use any file as your password file! Instead of typing or
copying/pasting your passwords, you can simply select any
file (a picture for example) and use it as a password to
encrypt/decrypt and hide/show your confidential files. For
stronger encryption, we recommend that you use large compressed
files such as ZIP, JPG, GIF, MOV, MPG, DAT, WMV, WMA, MP3,
RA (etc.) as your password files and avoid using uncompressed
files such as BMP, AVI, TXT, DOC, WAV, EXE (etc.). Note
that a file hidden with a password file (using Storm Pro
version 1.5) cannot be recovered using Storm Pro 1.0 or
Storm Freeware 1.0. When you purchase Storm Pro, you get
both Storm Pro versions (1.0 and 1.5).
Q.
How do I hide/show more than one confidential file in the
same media file?
A.
When you hide more than one data file inside the same media
file, you must proceed as following:
The last hidden file is the first one
to show! For example, if you start by hiding secret1.zip
in song.mp3 than you hide secret2.zip in the same file,
the first file Storm Pro will extract is secret2.zip, then
it will extract secret1.zip. "Last in, first out"
is the rule to keep in mind.
In the details, you would do the following:
Copy song.mp3, secret1.zip and secret2.zip to your stormpro
folder then rename song.mp3 as media and secret1.zip as
data. To enter a password, turn CAPS LOCK on. Now, select
stormpro.exe, press and hold SHIFT, and press Enter. Enter
a password, for example pass1. Storm Pro will generate the
first output file which is actually the mp3 file with secret1.zip
hidden inside it. Next, rename the output file as media
and rename secret2.zip as data. Turn CAPS LOCK on. Select
stormpro.exe, press and hold SHIFT, and hit Enter. Enter
a password for the second zip, pass2, for example. Storm
Pro will add secret2.zip to your mp3 file which already
has secret1.zip in it. Rename the final output file as song.mp3.
Your final song.mp3 can be played normally with the two
zip files safely hidden inside it.
To extract your secret zip files later,
you need to have the final song.mp3 in your stormpro folder.
Change the name of the mp3 file to output. Turn on CAPS
LOCK. Select stormpro.exe. Press and hold the Control key
(CTRL) and press Enter. Storm Pro will ask you to enter
the password for secret2.zip (it starts with the last hidden
file NOT the first one!). You should enter pass2 (in our
example) and click OK. Storm Pro will generate a data file
and a media file. The data file is your secret2.zip. Rename
data as secret2.zip and check it out. Fine. Now, your media
file is actually your mp3 song which still has secret1.zip
in its stomach ;-) so you need to change the name of your
media file to output again in order to extract secret1.zip.
But you already have a file named output in the stormpro
folder, so you should better change its name to output001
for example or delete it before changing the name of the
media file to output (since you cannot have two files named
output in the same folder). Next, you should repeat the
previous steps: Turn on CAPS LOCK, select stormpro.exe,
press and hold CTRL, and press Enter. You should enter the
password for secret1.zip which is pass1 in our example.
Finally, rename the new data file as secret1.zip and the
new media file as song.mp3.
Messy isn't it? Sure. Actually instead
of having two secret files why don't you combine the contents
of the two files into one bigger secret.zip file and hide
it in the mp3 song? It makes more sense. A question now...
how could the multi-layer technique described in this Q&A
become more efficient? Answer: you can start by hiding ONE
secret file in a media file, then you can add as many SILLY
files (public pictures, docs, etc.) as you want using different
passwords to protect your first confidential file! Sounds
better? In order to extract your secret file, one has to
dig and extract all the bogus files on top of it, entering
the right sequence of passwords. The bottom line is that
using the multi-layer protection technique carefully allows
you to hide your confidential files under many protected
levels of encryption and to achieve the highest level of
security offered by Storm Pro.
Remember that Storm Pro 1.5 (and later)
allows you to use password files as well!
Q.
How do I choose, manage, and remember my Storm Pro passwords?
A.
Good question. A Storm Pro password can have any sequence
of characters (up to 10000 characters) except the invisible
CR/LF sequence (carriage return / line feed) which is generated
when you press the Enter key. For example, you may select
a paragraph of text from any document and copy/paste it
in the password box but you should avoid including the CR/LF
at the end of the paragraph (which separates it from the
next paragraph). Also avoid selecting/including the CR/LF
codes from the paragraph before the one you are using as
your password. If you include a CR/LF sequence in your password
and paste it in the Storm Pro password window, your password
will be truncated at the CR/LF position.
Why would you use a paragraph of text
as your password, anyway? For many reasons, actually. The
longer the password, the stronger the encryption. Moreover,
since there are billions of pages around the globe, more
precisely on the Web, all you have to do is to pick up a
specific page on any web site, choose a specific paragraph
or range of text and copy paste it into your Storm Pro password
window before generating your output files. The advantage
is that you don't have to remember your password later on
(but you must remember the address of that web page and
also which specific paragraph you selected on that page).
And as long as you have access to the Internet, you can
simply reload that particular web page and select/copy/paste
your password into Storm or Storm Pro when needed. Another
big advantage of using this method is that it prevents you
from typing your password so you minimize the chance of
it being logged or captured by a potential spy or monitoring
program which could be active on the computer. Lots of advantages
actually but... one big disadvantage you must consider seriously
before adopting this method: The web page from which you
select your password may change or vanish! So, either you
choose a document downloaded on your hard disk or a document
from a CD (or other media), an off-line Web site, an E-book,
etc. If you select your password from an online page, you
must make sure that it is not going to change or disappear,
at least until you decide to split again your Storm Pro
output file!
Alternatively, Storm Pro 1.5 (or any
later version) allows you to use any file as your password
(instead of entering the password manually). For better
encryption, we recommend that you use compressed files as
your password files, such as ZIP, JPG, GIF, MOV, MPG, DAT,
WMV, WMA, MP3, RA (etc.) and avoid using uncompressed files
such as BMP, AVI, TXT, DOC, WAV, EXE (etc.). In fact, uncompressed
files contain a lot of redundant characters (like white
space) and offer predictable patterns which may facilitate
the task of any hacker who would try to steal your data.
Storm Pro allows you to enter any text
as your password. The maximum size of a Storm Pro password
is 10000 characters including all letters, digits, symbols,
and the white space character. If you know a poem by heart,
you may use it as your password. Remember that Storm Pro
passwords are case sensitive which means that "HELLO"
is different from "heLLo"... As we said earlier,
a password may not contain the invisible CR/LF sequence
which separates two paragraphs. Therefore, if you type Enter
or paste the CR/LF sequence, you would be actually putting
an end to your password. Alternatively, you may choose a
line or two from a paper magazine, newspaper, or book and
type it as your password.
If you prefer to use short passwords,
we recommend that you mix up numbers with capital and small
letters. For example "5aRt12w0Hb" is a good password.
"iMpos269sibLe" is also a good password. However,
"mum" is a bad password and "p" is even
worse ;-)
If you really have to write down your
password, you can write down the cross-references to the
password's characters using a magazine or a book. For example,
do not write down "5aRt12w0Hb". Instead, take
a book and look for the character "5" (the first
character in the password). You may find it on page 41,
line 10, word 5, character 3, for example. So you would
write down "41,10,5,3" and proceed to the next
character in the password which is "a" in our
example. If you find the letter "a" on page 6,
line 12, word 3, character 1, you would add "6,12,3,1"
and so on. You may end up with the following inscription
somewhere in your digital memo: 41,10,5,3 / 6,12,3,1 / 15,2,12,8...
etc. One last advice: If you follow this method, don't mention
anything about the reference book itself in your memo, don't
lose your book, and keep your memo batteries alive!
As we mentioned earlier, with Storm Pro
1.5 (and later versions), you can use any file as your password.
You may choose any picture or sound track (online or offline)
and use it as your password! Don't mention anything about
the password file. Since there are millions of pictures,
sound files, etc. on your CD's and on the Net, make sure
you are the only person to know what particular file you
used as your password.
Use your imagination to choose, use,
store, and recover your passwords. One cool thing: You can
use the free Storm version to split an output file generated
by Storm Pro which means that you don't have to worry about
having your Storm Pro copy with you everywhere in order
to split your output files. All you need is an Internet
connection. This also means that you can easily send or
email output files (pictures, songs, etc.), encrypted with
Storm Pro 1.0, to people who don't necessarily have Storm
Pro. The recipient can simply download the free Storm edition
to split the output file. If the output file is password-protected,
the free Storm edition allows the recipient to enter the
password in order to extract the confidential file. Note
however that files which are hidden with a password file
using Storm Pro 1.5 cannot be shown with Storm Pro 1.0 or
Storm Freeware 1.0.
There are many password exchange strategies
that can be designed and adopted between two parties communicating
through an information network. One easy way to communicate
passwords is to determine a specific web page address (URL)
from which the two parties can select text paragraphs and
use them as passwords. For example, the two parties may
agree on a web page displaying 30 paragraphs. The first
file to communicate would be encrypted/decrypted using the
first paragraph in the page; the second file would use the
second paragraph, and so on. Once you have defined your
strategy (off-line, face to face), you and your beloved
one may exchange encrypted love letters without worrying
if grandma is going to know anything about it :-)
Q.
Storm Pro and Storm Freeware executable files have no associated
icons. Why?
A.
Windows Explorer displays program file icons automatically.
Icons help identify programs easily, stir curiosity, and
draw attention. Since Storm is a privacy protection software,
we decided not to put any icon in its executable files.
Q.
I have hidden a confidential file in a JPEG picture which
I saved on my flash disk. I would like to recover my confidential
file at my office where I don't have access to the Internet.
I suppose I need to have my Storm program on my flash disk
as well. Any recommendations?
A.
You can simply copy your stormpro.exe file (44KB version
1.0 or 48KB version 1.5) or your storm.exe file (freeware
edition) on your flash disk along with your JPEG picture.
For high security, we recommend that you do the following:
First, you need to have a few miscellaneous folders on your
flash disk such as, a game, a picture folder, utilities,
songs, etc... copy your Storm-modified JPEG picture to the
picture folder on your flash disk, for example. Compress
stormpro.exe in your stormpro folder on your computer's
hard disk to create a small (and unrecognizable!) stormpro.zip.
Rename stormpro.zip as run32.dat (as an example). Click
YES when Windows asks you to confirm the rename operation.
Next, you need to cut/paste run32.dat from your stormpro
folder to your game folder on your flash disk. When you
need to access your confidential file at your office, plug
in your flash disk and copy/paste run32.dat in the game
folder to create a copy of run32.dat in the same folder.
Rename the copy as stormpro.zip and extract stormpro.exe.
Next, copy/paste your JPEG picture, which contains your
confidential file, from your picture folder to your game
folder, and use stormpro.exe to show your confidential file
(after renaming the JPEG file to output). If you wish to
physically erase your extracted confidential file later,
rename it as "data" again, and use stormpro.exe
to combine the data and media files into output (you don't
have to delete the previous output file). This operation
will physically erase both your data and media files and
it will overwrite the output file already in your game folder.
Finally, delete the encrypted output file, stormpro.zip,
and the stormpro.exe program file, manually. That's it.
One last tip, if you are using Storm Pro 1.5 (or later),
you can use one of the many files on your flash disk or
your office PC's hard disk as your password file!
Q.
When I attempt to rename the media file to output while
extracting multiple files from the same file, Windows refuses
to rename the file because a file with the same name already
exists. What should I do?
A.
You should rename the existing output file as output001
(or anything you like) or delete it before renaming the
last generated media file as output (to split it again).
Follow these steps to hide multiple files inside the same
media file:
Rename the first file that you wish to
hide as data and rename the media file (the file in which
you want to hide your secret file, a video clip for example)
as media. Generate the first output file (with or without
a password). To hide another file in the output file, rename
the output file as media again and prepare another data
file. Generate the second output file, and so on.
To extract the hidden files, start by
renaming the final output file (the video clip which contains
all the files) as output. Split it into media and data.
Note that the last hidden file comes out first. Restore
the data file to its original name. Now you should split
the media file again to extract the remaining files so you
should rename it as output. Since you already have an output
file in the same folder, you should start by renaming the
existing output file as output001 (or any other name) or
delete it (after verifying that the extracted data file
is OK. If you entered the wrong password, you may try again
with the same output file). Once you have renamed the first
output file to output001, you should rename the media file
as output to split it again. Check out the generated data
file (by renaming it and opening it), rename the last output
file as output002, rename the current media file again as
output, and continue the splitting process until you have
recovered all your hidden files successfully.
FREQUENTLY
ENCOUNTERED ISSUES
When the Storm
documentation asks you to press and hold the Shift
(or Control) key, you should not release the Shift
(or Control) key until Storm displays the Processing...
please wait message or informs you that the operation
was successful. In other words, you should keep the Shift
(or Control) key down while pressing and releasing
Enter (to launch Storm's executable). If you don't
hold the Shift (or Control) key down long
enough, the file operations will not be initiated!
If you have any question or comment,
please contact us. |
