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Steganography - The Art Of Deception & Concealment
The Message Must Get Through
You send for a messenger, who is in reality a Roman slave. The messenger's head is shaved clean, and the message for the outpost is tattooed on his head. Several weeks later, the messengers hair has grown in and completely concealed the secret information. The messenger departs and one week later reaches the outpost. A quick head shave and the outpost has the information needed to ensure yet another victory for Rome. This is one of the earliest forms of Steganography on record. The art of hiding messages within another medium and avoiding detection. The Ancient Technology Of Deception
There are several programs on the Internet that may be able to detect a small anomaly in the picture, like "stegdetect", but the method used to embed the secret document is protected by a key, or password, as well. The technology behind effective Steganography is quite complex and involves serious mathematical computations. Computers and technology make this a trivial task and make this art of deception a serious threat to the security of information. Company's that regard their information proprietary, and rely on the security and integrity of their intellectual property, could be at significant risk. A Real World Example Of Steganography
But how many organizations block the sending of image files like, .jpg or .bmp images. Imagine having someone on the inside of a company who secures a proprietary document. This person then embeds the document into a picture and sends it to an e-mail address on the Internet. The company's defense systems block many types of file attachments, but image files are not considered a risk, so they are allowed through. The sender and receiver previously agreed on the method and type of deception. Using a Steganography package freely available on the Internet the task was easily and securely executed. The company was completely unaware of the fact that important information was leaked. Conclusion
Steganography also has an impact on non-digital information as well. And, pictures are not the only medium that can be used. Sound files are another favorite host for embedding secret information. If you would like to see Steganography in action you can download "The Third Eye" from the following link http://www.defendingthenet.com/downloads/steg.zip. It is a freely distributable Steganography program and was used to create the two image examples referenced above. This download contains the two images above and you will be able to open the image with the hidden text and extract it. The zip file contains a README.TXT file that will give you full instructions on how to extract the hidden text in the image. But first, you will need the password! Can you guess it? I'll give you a clue: What form of deception did the Roman General use to send his message?** *The story "The message must get through" although based on documented information about a Roman General performing such an act of deception, is fictional and was written as illustration of such an event strictly for use in this article. **You should be able to easily guess the password however I must point out that the password should be entered all "lower-case". About The Author
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