We present a parameter adaptive synchronization method to recover a message masked by the hyperchaotic signal of a time-delay system. As an eavesdropper, we suppose the type of the transmitter system is known, but the exact value of the parameter is unknown and kept in secret as an encryption key. Numerical simulation shows that it is possible to attack the hidden message masked by three traditional encoded schemes of communications, i.e. the socalled chaotic masking, chaotic modulation, and chaotic switching. The hidden message can be clearly recovered by the parameter tracking procedure. Moreover the tracking parameter can be used directly to recover the encrypted message. In addition, this method is robust to noise and parameter mismatching.