Abstract: In order to hide an authentication code or signature (101, 402, 504) in an electric signal (100, 400, 401), which consists of data parts with a certain value, certain data parts are selected from the electric signal for processing on the basis of the contents of the authentication code. The value of each data part selected for processing is re-determined by a filter (200, 403, 504), which uses certain other predetermined data parts of the electric signal as input data. For detecting the authentication coding, the signal is filtered with the same filter (403) and those data parts (406) which have their value unchanged after the second filtering are marked. The electric signal can be a file (particularly an image file) or a temporally continuous signal. The device for implementing the method comprises a memory (501, 502) for saving the electric signal and a processing unit (500) for reading the data from the memory and for changing the value of its data parts.