Linguistic Steganography Open Codes The openly readable text is in the case of open codes mostly well constructed. It can contain certain words or sentences, certain letters can be on certain places in the text or words can be hidden in vertical or reversed position. The main methods are: Masking In a text there could be sentences or words starting with certain letters, which have another meaning. There can also be metaphors, etc. In so far all kinds of jargons are in fact masking. Cues A certain word appearing in the text transports the message. This message is very often used in wartime to broadcast information to resistance groups in the enemy's country. Null-ciphers The hidden text could be reconstructed by taking the first (second,...) letter of each word (or after the punctuation mark, etc.). Hidden messages could also be found vertically, diagonally or in reversed order. It could also be necessary to re-write the open text in other form (e.g. with a certain number of letters per line). Link tip: Who wrote Shakespeare's Works? Book tips: Drosnin, Michael: The Bible Code 1998, Simon & Schuster, 272p. ISBN: 0684849739 Friedman, William F. and Friedman, Elizebeth S.: The Shakespearean Ciphers Examined 1957, Cambridge University Press, 302p. Grilles The hidden text can be reconstructed by putting the words on certain positons in the open text together. wbStego web pages © 1999-2004, last modified: Mar. 1, 2004.