STEGANOGRAPHY | AN ART OF HIDING

HARIT SONI ANKUR DAVE B.E.I.T-6TH SEM S.P.C.E.VISNAGAR REG_ID: BE_ABIT03189 9722231510 harit789123@gmail.com
The word derives from Greek, and literally means covered writing It includes numerous secret communication methods that conceal the messages very existence.

Abstract The term Steganography is of Greek

origin Steganos meaning Covered and Graphie meaning Writing, putting them together: Covered/ Concealed Writing. It is the art and science of hiding information by embedding messages within other, seemingly harmless messages. This can be achieved by concealing the existence of information within carriers such as text, image, video, audio, etc. Unlike Steganography , Cryptography doesnt conceal information and attracts attention to themselves.

Versus Cryptography: Transforming information (plaintext) into other unintelligible information (ciphertext) such that no one but the intended recipient would be able to retrieve it While cryptography scrambles messages so that they cannot be understood, Steganography hides messages so that they cannot be seen. Versus Watermarking: The existence of a watermark is often declared openly. Placing a watermark in an image or other media file serves to identify the artist or author of the work. Any attempt to remove or invalidate the embedded content renders the host useless. Once the presence of hidden information is revealed or even suspected, the purpose of Steganography is defeated.

Modern steganography refers to hiding

information in digital images, audio files or even video. There are many methods and tools to do that.

With the advent of the digital age,

steganography is a message passing .The ease of its use has opened up the possibility that some will use steganography for nefarious purposes. Therefore, Steganography is an ethical challenge

1. WHAT IS STEGANOGRAPHY?

Steganography

is the art of hiding information in ways that prevent the detection of the hidden information

INTRODUCTION ABOUT MODERN STEGANOGRAPHY

2.

Modern

steganography refers to hiding information in digital images, audio files or even Video. There are many methods and tools to do

that. Nevertheless, and to have double protection, secret messages are first encrypted and then hidden using a steganography tool.

Modern

Steganographic

System:

Secret Message:

2. TECHNIQUES
STEGANOGRAPHY
Techniques used in History:

OF

Encryption:

Invincible inks : Before World War-II, Invincible inks were used for writing secret information within papers.

Null ciphers (unencrypted messages): The real message is "camouflaged" in an innocent sounding message. For instance: Consider following message: Fishing freshwater bends and saltwater coasts rewards anyone feeling stressed. Resourceful anglers usually find masterful leapers fun and admit swordfish rank overwhelming anyday. If we take out third letter from each word, we will get following. Hidden Message: Send Lawyers, Guns, and Money

Microdot Technology: Shrinking messages down to the size of a dot became a popular method. Since the microdot could be placed at the end of a sentence or above a j or an i. The first microdots were discovered masquerading as a period on a typed envelope carried by a German agent in 1941. Modern Techniques:

Least Significant Bit(LSB Technique) In it, Messages are encoded in the least significant bit (LSB) of every byte in an image. By doing so, the value of each pixel is changed slightly, but not enough to make significant visual changes to the image, even when compared to the original. LSB is represented in the following figure:
S

Flaws in LSB: LSB Steganography is easy to implement, but it is vulnerable to almost all media Transformations. For example, cropping an image that has a hidden message can result in losing the entire message. Masking & Filtering:

Is where information is hidden inside of a image using digital watermarks that include information such as copyright, ownership, or licenses. The purpose is different from traditional steganography since it is adding an attribute to the cover image thus extending the amount of information presented. Adding Bytes to the end of the image It is similar to LSB Technique, but instead of replacing the least significant bits of carrier with the bits of information here the bytes are added at the end of the image as shown in the following example.

4) Used by some modern printers, including HP and Xerox brand color laser printers. 5) Steganography in audio can be used with mobile phone. Unethical Uses:

- For instance, if someone was trying to steal data, they could conceal it in another file or files and send it out in an innocent looking email or file transfer. - Furthermore, a person with a hobby of saving pornography, or worse, to their hard drive, may choose to hide the evidence through the use of steganography. - And, as was pointed out in the concern for terrorist purposes, it can be used as a means of covert communication. Embedding Within Audio: It is used for hiding information within audio files. Rumored Uses: Rumors about terrorists using steganography started first in the daily newspaper USA Today on February 5, 2001 in two articles titled "Terrorist instructions hidden online" and "Terror groups hide behind Web encryption". In July of the same year, the information looked even more precise: "Militants wire Web with links to jihad". A citation from the USA Today article: "Lately, al-Qaeda operatives have been sending hundreds of encrypted messages that have been hidden in files on digital photographs on the auction site eBay.com". These rumors were cited many timeswithout ever showing any actual proofby other media worldwide, especially after the terrorist attack of 9/11.

3. USES OF STEGANOGRAPHY:
Ethical Uses: 1) Watermarking images for reasons such as copyright protection. 2) Tagging notes to online images. 3) Maintaining the confidentiality of valuable information.

4. FLAWS OF
STEGANOGRAPHY:

Image Steganography
a. Color degradation b. Significant file size change

Audio Steganography
c. Distorted sounds d. Significant file size change e. Manipulation of carrier may result in degraded or inability to extract the message f. Difficulty in hiding large message inside small carriers

5. STEGANALYSIS- AN
OVERVIEW:
The detection of steganographically encoded packages is called Steganalysis. Methods: Visual Analysis tries to reveal the presence of secret communication through inspection, either with the naked eye or with the assistance of a computer. Statistical (Algorithmic) Analysis reveals tiny alterations in an image's statistical behavior caused by steganographic embedding. The nominally universal methods developed to detect embedded stego-data are generally less effective than the steganalytic methods aimed at specific types of embedding.

7. A REAL TIME EXAMPLE

USING OPENPUFF: A Carrier Image in its pure form:

Image after hiding information within it:

6. STEGANOGRAPHY TOOLS:
Some of the tools available for Stagenography are enlisted in the following table:

8. CONCLUSION: With the advent of the digital age, steganography

is a message passing technique that has become available to ordinary citizens. The ease of use has opened up the possibility that some will use steganography for nefarious purposes. Therefore, Steganography (particularly Digital Steganography) is an ethical challenge. Steganography, especially combined with cryptography, is a powerful tool which enables people to communicate without possible eavesdroppers even knowing there is a form of communication in the rst place.

9. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
-Cole, Eric - Hiding In Plain Sight ; Wiley Publishing, Inc. 2003 ISBN: 0-471-44449-9 -Exploring Steganography: Seeing the Unseen N. Johnson & S. Jajodia -Information Hiding: Techniques for Steganography and Digital Watermarking S. Katzenbeisser, F. Petitcolas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steganogra phy