Part One: What is steganography, watermarking, and steganalysis? How are these each
accomplished?
Cryptology is the use of coded, secret messages to protect information, while
steganography hides a message in a cover document or file. Evidence of cryptology and
steganography can be found even as far back as the 5th Century BC A political prisoner
of King Darius shaved the head of one of his slaves and tattooed a message on his scalp.
Once the slave’s hair had grown out, he sent the slave to deliver the message. Invisible
inks, another form of steganography, also existed in the age of Caesar.
- May mention other types of older cryptology and steganography that existed in
medieval ages, including hidden messages on tablets, soles of shoes, women’s
earrings,
- Go into detail about how steganography was used in WWII. German spies used it, as
well as the example of the fourteen code talkers on the Western Front who used the
Comanche language to explain tines and geographic features in France and Germany.
Steganography now is accomplished in the digital world through the use of mathematics
(algorithms).
- accomplished through encryption = encoding information where only the person who
possesses the correct electronic key can decode it
- First, the information is scrambled using an algorithm. This algorithm creates a key
which is later used to transform the encrypted back to its original form so that it can
be understood by the receiver. For example, we could use the multiplication of two
50-digit prime numbers to create a 100-digid product that becomes the key. There are
public and private keys. Private key cryptography uses the same key for both the
encryption and decryption process. Therefore, the sender and receiver of the secret
information have the same key. Public key cryptology uses both a public and private
key. The sender uses the public key and it can be published in directories. The
private key is necessary for the receiver to decrypt the message.
Information can be hidden in a variety of files. Steganography replaces unused parts of
data with the secret information. Information can be hidden in text, for example, in the
spaces between words. This type of information hiding is more successful than
steganography that consists of hidden information in infrequent spelling errors and in
words replaced by synonyms. One of the main requirements for hiding information in
digital sounds and images is redundant, repetitive information. Steganography uses this
part of the sound or image to hide the secret information.
- another example is embedding a mobile telephone conversation into an Integrated
Services Digital Network (ISDN) video conferencing system
The easiest way to hide information is to replace the least significant bit (LSB) of every
element with one bit of the secret message. For example, in a picture, each pixel is made
up of 24 bits of information, which, to the computer, consists of 0s and 1s. To insert the
secret information, one can change these 0s and 1s to bits from of secret information.
The most useful way to insert these bits is do to do so in a random way according to the
secret key. This makes it harder for others to break the code. The updated picture should
not appear noticeably different, or else attackers may become suspicious.
- will talk about my examples with steganography. So far, I have downloaded and used
only one application, called Hide-In-Picture. It was very easy to use and, in my first
attempt, I embedded a word file into a picture. I could set passwords, change the file
names, change the encryption algorithm for the file, and use a setting for a check on if the
file has been changed since I originally embedded the information. I will try to determine
how effective this application is, and how often this and similar programs are used by the
average individual. I also will try different applications if possible, and comment on my
experiences with all.
Watermarking is a type of steganography that is used when other parties know of the
existence of hidden information and may have the desire to remove or change it. It is
most often used for copyright protection. One can protect the validity and originality of
information by embedding information about the source of the data into files. Another
application of watermarking is fingerprinting, which involves inserting a different
watermark into each copy of a file in order to monitor who is receiving the file.
Therefore, one can trace back copies that were illegally produced to the original receiver.
Two other applications of watermarking include the determination of the authenticity of
an image and the elimination of unauthorized copying of media. --- will be discussed
further…
Steganalysis is the process of finding hidden information and then disabling it. Breaking
a steganography system includes three steps. First, is the detecting phase. Unusual or
repetitive patterns may be detected without aids, but disk analysis programs can find
unused areas in a file and report on the hidden information. When sounds or images are
distorted by the embedded information, it is called ‘perceptible noise.’ Filters can be
used to find TCP/IP packets whose headers contain hidden or invalid information. One
may also look for unusual color schemes.
The second step is the extracting phase and the third step is the disabling of the embedded
information.
- discuss idea of ‘brute force’ – using computers to try every possible key until it finds
the right one. Talk about creating stronger, longer algorithms
- removing watermarks – how feasible is this? Do these applications like StirMark and
UnZign work? - test them out and comment on what happened. Will this be a
problem even when algorithms become stronger?
Part Two: What are some of the uses and concerns regarding steganography?
- conflict between government’s goals and all parts of society
In the 1990’s, researchers and scientists have made a strong push towards eliminating
government controls of encryption. The U.S. has had export laws that limit the sale of
strong encryption products overseas. These laws existed in order to keep foreigners from
having the ability to encode their information. This way, the U.S. can have much more
open access to information that might be related to potential terrorist and criminal action
against the U.S. – investigating and prosecuting criminals, information gathering
– talk about escrowed encryption, private meetings, etc.
Why did so many individuals want to eliminate these laws?
-
Businesses see it as helpful, especially if they are international companies. They
transfer important information with customers, suppliers, and partners, and want to
make sure that it does not end up in the hands of competitors, criminals, foreign
governments, and other customers.
- Individuals transfer information over insecure connections (Internet, cell phones, etc.)
constantly, such as banking and finance information, medical records, etc.
- Issue of the First Amendment, free speech.
These laws are now eliminated, and people have much greater access to steganography
applications.
When researchers discovered this technology in the 1970’s, they were uncertain as to
how to deal with it. Should they release this information to the public? Will it do more
harm than good?…comparisons to nanotechnology…Figured it was best to release
information, for eventually foreign countries would discover it as well and end up ahead
of the U.S.
How has the government controls effected our progress in steganography? Many feel
that this slowed our progress, and it is important for us to research the area more in order
to be ahead of other countries. Contrast the views of other countries, such as Russia, with
our government’s views. Talk about the grant in 2001, and also talk about ideas of how
to deal with the drawbacks of releasing this information, but why it is necessary.
How did September 11th effect people’s opinions? Senator Judd Gregg, only two days
after the attack, “called for international cooperation to create tighter controls over the
use of strong encryption and for decryption products to be put in the hands of government
so that communications and documents could be cracked with the circumstances
required”(Strategic Finance, Nov 2001). How did researchers feel? How did the public
feel?
Dr. Patrick Ball has been traveling to train human rights workers in information gathering
for the past nine years. Steganography has been very helpful in situations in which a
country is trying to gather information to prove government abuses. This has been
helpful in Guatemala and Haiti.
What are some future uses/benefits of steganography? How will this change our future?
- more privacy
- online cash transactions
- e-signatures
- copyrighted MP3s, image files, e-books, etc.
- protection from identity thieves
- ability to validate the origin of business information
--- these will all be discussed further in my paper, and I will try to find more possible
future applications.