Information Hiding

Sharing Secrets #

Computers are often used to store private information, and we often want to share parts of it without giving up our full privacy.

This activity shows a surprising technique discovered by computer scientists that seems impossible; it allows people to share personal certain kinds of information accurately without having to give up any privacy at all.

Activity description (PDF) #

• Instructions for Information Hiding activity (English)

Translations and other versions #

• Chinese language version
• Polish language version
• Slovenian language version

Related Resources #

More activities and lessons #

• The Mathmaniacs web site has a similar activity (lesson B).
• Try Engineering has an activity called Electric Messages: Then and Now which explores electronic communication, the Morse Code system, and advances all the way through text messaging. Students build a simple circuit, send messages to one another. and explore the impact of electrical communications on society.

If you want to find out more #

• Wikipedia: Zero Knowledge
• Wikipedia: Information Hiding

Videos #

• Hashing Algorithms and Security – Computerphile
• Encryption and Security Agencies – Computerphile
• EXTRA BITS – Data Security and Flash Memory – Computerphile
• Security of Data on Disk – Computerphile
• Public Key Cryptography – Computerphile

Curriculum #

Great Principles of Computer Science #

• Communication