Introduction

to
Steganography
 What is Steganography?
Steganography is an important research
issues in computer security field .

Steganography is the science that aimed

at communicating secret data in an
appropriate multimedia carrier, such as:
images, texts and audio.

The goal of Steganography is to hide a

secret message in a medium (carrier file).
The word steganography is derived from
the Greek words stegos meaning cover
and grafia meaning writing, defining it
as covered writing.

In the 5th century BC, a secret message

had been tattooed on a slaves skull after
shaving his hair. When the slaves hair grew
again, he was dispatched with the message.
Simple Stenographic System
 Overview of steganographic
system 1
A message is embedded in a digital image by the
stegosystem encoder, which uses a key or
password.

The resulting stego-image is transmitted over a

channel to the receiver, where it is processed by
the stegosystem decoder using the same key.

The stego-image can be monitored by

unintended viewers who will notice only the
transmittal of the innocuous image.
Overview of steganographic
system 2
 Steganography vs.
Cryptography
Cryptography and Steganography are
similar but they are not the same.

In cryptography the message is

encrypted, visible, but not readable.

In steganography the message is

embedded, readable, but not visible.
Applications of Steganography

There are various applications that use

steganography.

For example, copyright control of

materials and smart IDs (identity cards)
where individuals details are embedded in
their photographs.
 Main Steganographic Mediums

Encoding Secret Messages in Audio.

Encoding Secret Messages in Images.

Encoding Secret Messages in Text.

Thethe carrier file that has the hidden
message called stego file , file after
embedding.

The file before embedding that used to as

a cover called cover file.

The most common medium is images, this

type called Image Steganography.
 Stenographic Methods
Line-shiftencoding and Word-shift
encoding are methods for embedding
messages in texts.

Least significant bit (LSB) and Random

LSB are methods for embedding messages in
images.

Low-bit encoding and Phase-coding are

methods for embedding messages in audio.
 Steganography Software
There are many available software in the
internet, such as: S-Tools, Jsteg and
OpenStego.

For example, S-Tools is easy to use and it

consists of a simple graphical user interface.

The cover image and the file to be embedded

can be dragged into the S-Tools work area from
a windows explorer window.
Thecover image can be a WAV, GIF, or
BMP file.

So each steganography tool has its own

features and its weakness.

For example, tools that use LSB can be

easy detect and they are weak against the
visual attack.
Figure 1: The User Interface of S-Tools Software
 Image Steganography

-Images are the most popular cover objects

used for steganography.

-In the domain of digital

images many different image file formats
exist.

-For these different image file formats,

different steganographic algorithms exist.
Categories of image
steganography
Example of image
Steganography
 Steganalysis
Steganalysis is the art and science of
stopping or detecting the use of all
stenographic techniques.

Steganalysis aims at detecting the secret

messages that embedded using a
stenographic tool.
 Steganalysis Software
Software systems have also been
developed to detect stego messages.

An example of such software is

StegDetect that was developed by Niels
Provos.
 References
Ashok. J., Raju. Y., Curran Kevin., and Srinivas, K. (2010)
STEGANOGRAPHY: AN OVERVIEW. International Journal of
Engineering Science and Technology

Cheddad Abbas ,Condell Joan ,Curran Kevin and Kevitt Paul

Mc (2010) 'Digital Image Steganography: Survey and
Analysis of Current Methods'. Signal Processing

Fridrich,
J.(2010) STEGANOGRAPHY IN DIGITAL MEDIA. New
York: Cambridge University Press

Cheddad,Abbas.(2009) Digital Image Steganography.

Germany: VDM Verlag Dr. Muller