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Thesis on steganography
Importance of steganography
Thesis on steganography
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1. Introduction
Steganography conceals the fact that a message is being sent. It is a method akin to covert channels, spread spectrum communication and invisible inks which adds another step in security. A message in ciphertext may arouse suspicion while an invisible message will not.
1.1 Purpose of Paper
This paper introduces steganography by explaining what it is, providing a brief history with illustrations of some methods for implementing steganography, and comparing available software providing steganographic services. Though the forms are many, the focus of the software evaluation in this paper is on the use of images in steganography.
1.2 Structure of Paper
Section 2 will define steganography, provide a brief history, and explain various methods of steganography. Section 3 will review several software applications that provide steganographic services and mention the approaches taken. Section 4 will conclude with a brief discussion of the implications of stegaonographic technology. Section 5 will list the resources used in researching this topic and additional readings for those interested in more in-depth understanding of steganography.
2. Steganography
2.1 Definition
The word steganography literally means covered writing as derived from Greek. It includes a vast array of methods of secret communications that conceal the very existence of the message. Among these methods are invisible inks, microdots, character arrangement (other than the cryptographic methods of permutation and substitution), digital signatures, covert channels and spread-spectrum communications.
Steganography is the art of concealing the existence of information within seemingly innocuous carriers. Steganography can be viewed as akin to cryptography. Both have been used throughout recorded history as means to protect information. At times these two technologies seem to converge while the objectives of the two differ. Cryptographic techniques "scramble" messages so if intercepted, the messages cannot be understood. Steganography, in an essence, "camouflages" a message to hide its existence and make it seem "invisible" thus concealing the fact that a message is being sent altogether. An encrypted message may draw suspicion while an invisible message will not [JDJ01].
David Kahn places steganography and cryptography in a table to differentiate against the types and counter methods used. Here security is defined as methods of "protecting" information where intelligence is defined as methods of "retrieving" information
Steganography has its place in security. It is not intended to replace cryptography but supplement it. Hiding a message with steganography methods reduces the chance of a message being detected. However, if that message is also encrypted, if discovered, it must also be cracked (yet another layer of protection).
The pros of electronic surveillance are extensive. The ability for agents of the United States Intelligence Community (IC) to intercept and process communications and information from foreign powers, agents of foreign powers, international terrorist organizations, and others who seek to engage in activities with such groups, provides the ...
Coding and encryption were two very important elements in the use of espionage. Enigmas were cipher machines that were based mainly on a wired code wheel. The wired code wheel, known more commonly as a rotor, would be shaped similar to a hockey puck made of non-conductive material, such as rubber, and have two sides, an input plate and an output plate and around the circumference are 26 evenly spaced electrical contacts. The 26 contacts on the input plate would be connected by wired through the body of the rotor to the 26 contacts on the output plate. An alphabet ring would then be placed around the rotors 26 contacts therefore creating a cipher alphabet.
What is encryption? Encryption is a technological technique that protects and secures the transfer of plain text information between two sources through the use of the internet. This is done by rearranging the text using a mathematical algorithm that renovates the message into an indecipherable form, which can only be unlocked and translated with a use of a key. The strength of the encryption key is measured by its length, which is determined by the number of bits and by the type of encryption program.
An onion is a data structure that is formed by wrapping a plaintext message with successive layers of encryption, such that each layer can be unwrapped or decrypted like the layers of an onion. The plaintext message is only viewable by the sender, exit node, recipient. This can be extended to end to end encryption so that the last intermediary cannot also view the message.
Jost, Kenneth. "Examining Forensics." CQ Researcher Online. N.p., 17 July 2009. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. . How criminals can use photoshop to eliminate evidence
The CI has been a means to determine the presence of espionage by citizens of domestic as well as foreign countries. Whether the citizens are private or military has been rendered as immaterial for purposes specific to CI. The implementation of counterintelligence by either by acts of espionage from a citizen source acting on their own or via a government entity can either hurt or help a foreign country or a private citizen. Espionage by a government entity on another government entity via the infiltration of an agent network will likely be of benefit to the underlying national population and in contrast, should CI fall into the wrong hands, may be of potential danger to a underlying national population as well.
Codes have been around for centuries ranging from wax, invisible ink, Morse code, the Enigma used by the Germans during World War II and now steganographic. Steganography is the latest form to insidiously hide information over the Internet without a trace of a file being altered. You are able to hide messages within images, voice or music. Steganography is an ancient method of hiding messages. Today messages are hidden in images and music. Steganography can be traced back to the ancient Greek who would write messages on tablets and cover them in wax. This made the tablets look blank and unsuspicious (Kolata, F4). Citizens of ancient civilizations would tattoo messages on their shaved heads. They would then let their hair grown in and travel across enemy lines to deliver the message (Seper, G1). During World War II the Allies placed a ban on flower deliveries with dates, crossword puzzles and even report cards (Kolata, F4) for fear of a message being hidden with in. Steganographers first alter their data by using encryption and then place the image into a pre-select image. Steganographers look for a piece of code that would be the least significant and look the least altered to the human eye (Kolata, F4), being as inconspicuousness and random as possible. This makes the messages undetectable unless you knew that there is a message hidden and you were able to crack the code.
The data a computer forensics acquisition tool collects is stored as an image file in one of three formats. Two formats are open source and the third is proprietary. Each vendor has unique features, so several different proprietary formats are available. Depending on the ...
Espionage is the secret gathering of information on rival countries for military purposes. Espionage can be used in business, military, economic or political decisions however; it is commonly employed government for defensive tactics. Espionage or spying is illegal in many nations however, it gains profits from agencies to protect the secrecy of information that is desired.
Stantis, Scott. Fighting Cyber Spying. Digital image. US News. U.S.News & World Report, 2013. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. (Source K)
What did they do ? Before we talk about it any further, we have to know some definitions that we use in digital forensics and digital evidence, not only two of them but the others too. This chapter will explain about it . Before we talk about it any further, we have to know the definition of what we are talking about. In the introduction we already know what digital forensic and digital evidence shortly are. In this chapter, we will more explore what they are, and some state that we found when we search about digital forensic and digital evidence. Computer forensics is a broad field and applied to the handling of crimes related to information technology. The goal of computer forensic is to securing and analyzing digital
...tal part of lives just like privacy. Using cryptology provides mechanisms through a digital signature. This signature is inserted using a key (that only the writer of the email possesses) whilst a timestamp binds itself to the document. This type of cryptography is used to control access of security installations or pay-per-view television channels.
Data encryption refers to the transformation of data into a structure that makes it unreadable by anyone without a secret decryption key. It ensures that messages can be read only by the planned recipient. Encryption is the procedure of obscuring information to create it unreadable without special information. Only organizations and individuals with an abnormal need for secrecy have actually made good use of it. Nowadays, encryption is one of the most important technologies for maintaining your privacy and the security of important information. This helps out greatly especially when E-Commerce is being used.
The internet allows people to communicate sensitive information, and if received in the wrong hands can cause many problems for that person. Cryptography is the study or science of techniques of secret writing and message hiding. Cryptography constitutes any method in which someone attempts to hide a message, or the meaning, in some medium. One specific element of cryptography is encryption, which hides the data or information by transforming it into undecipherable code. Encryption uses a specified key to perform the data transformation.
... of encryption named cryptography seems unreliable since it used plain text, but DNA authentication and stenography has been proven useful in the field. DNA computing has been proven to handle difficult computation problem and it still holds a possibility to solve even more complex problem and replacing the electrical computer in the future.