Admin: Created page with "'''A steganography software tool''' allows a user to embed hidden data inside a carrier file, such as an image or video, and later extract that data. It is not necessary to c..."

2019-07-20T08:19:51Z

Created page with "'''A steganography software tool''' allows a user to embed hidden data inside a carrier file, such as an image or video, and later extract that data. It is not necessary to c..."

New page

'''A steganography software tool''' allows a user to embed hidden data inside a carrier file, such as an image or video, and later extract that data.

It is not necessary to conceal the message in the original file at all. Thus, it is not necessary to modify the original file and thus, it is difficult to detect anything. If a given section is subjected to successive bitwise manipulation to generate the cyphertext, then there is no evidence in the original file to show that it is being used to encrypt a file.

==Architecture==
===Carrier===
The [[Steganography#Additional terminology|carrier]] is the signal, stream, or data file into which the hidden data is hidden by making subtle modifications. Examples include audio files, image files, documents, and executable files. In practice, the carrier should look and work the same as the original unmodified carrier, and should appear benign to anyone inspecting it.

Certain properties can raise suspicion that a file is carrying hidden data:
* If the hidden data is large relative to the carrier content, as in an empty document that is a megabyte in size.
* The use of obsolete formats or poorly-supported extensions which break commonly used tools.

It is a cryptographic requirement that the carrier (e.g. photo) is original, not a copy of something publicly available (e.g., downloaded). This is because the publicly available source data could be compared against the version with a hidden message embedded.

There is a weaker requirement that the embedded message not change the carrier's statistics (or other metrics) such that the presence of a message is detectable. For instance, if the least-significant-bits of the red camera-pixel channel of an image has a Gaussian distribution given a constant colored field, simple image steganography which produces a random distribution of these bits could allow discrimination of stego images from unchanged ones.

The sheer volume of modern (ca 2014) and inane high-bandwidth media (e.g., youtube.com, bittorrent sources. ebay, facebook, spam, etc.) provides ample opportunity for covert communication.

===Chain===

Hidden data may be split among a set of files, producing a ''carrier chain'', which has the property that all the carriers must be available, unmodified, and processed in the correct order in order to retrieve the hidden data. This additional security feature usually is achieved by:
* using a different [[initialization vector]] for each carrier and storing it inside processed carriers -> ''CryptedIVn = Crypt( IVn, CryptedIVn-1 )''
* using a different cryptography algorithm for each carrier and choosing it with a chain-order-dependent [[Equiprobable|equiprobabilistic]] algorithm

===Robustness and cryptography===

Steganography tools aim to ensure robustness against modern [[Computer forensics|forensic methods]], such as statistical [[steganalysis]]. Such robustness may be achieved by a balanced mix of:
* a stream-based cryptography process;
* a [[Decorrelation|data whitening]] process;
* an [[Covering space|encoding]] process.

If the data is detected, cryptography also helps to minimize the resulting damage, since the data is not exposed, only the fact that a secret was transmitted. The sender may be forced to decrypt the data once it is discovered, but [[deniable encryption]] can be leveraged to make the decrypted data appear benign.

Strong steganography software relies on a [[Steganography#Data embedding security schemes|multi-layered architecture]] with a deep, documented [[obfuscation]] process.

===Carrier engine===

The carrier engine is the core of any steganography tool. Different file formats are modified in different ways, in order to covertly insert hidden data inside them. Processing algorithms include:
* Injection (suspicious because of the content-unrelated file size increment)
* Generation (suspicious because of the traceability of the generated carriers)
* [[Ancillary data]] and [[metadata]] substitution
* [[Least significant bit|LSB]] or adaptive substitution
* Frequency space manipulation

==Tools comparison==

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="background:white;color:black;text-align:center"
|+ |'''Tools comparison (alphabetical order)'''
| style="background:lightgrey" | '''Program'''
| style="background:lightgrey" | '''Image files'''
| style="background:lightgrey" | '''Audio files'''
| style="background:lightgrey" | '''Video files'''
| style="background:lightgrey" | '''Document files'''
| style="background:lightgrey" | '''Other support'''
| style="background:lightgrey" | '''Notes'''
|-
| style="background:whitesmoke" | Anubis || ? || ? || ? || ? || ''Data being appended to the end of file'' || ''?''
|-
| style="background:whitesmoke" | BMPSecrets || [[Windows bitmap|BMP]], [[JPG]], [[Tagged Image File Format|TIFF]], [[Graphics Interchange Format|GIF]]|| - || - || - || - || -
|-
| style="background:whitesmoke" | DarkCryptTC || [[Windows bitmap|BMP]], [[JPG]], [[Tagged Image File Format|TIFF]], [[Portable Network Graphics|PNG]], [[Adobe Photoshop|PSD]], [[Truevision TGA|TGA]], [[Multiple-image Network Graphics|MNG]] || [[WAV]] || - || [[Text file|TXT]], [[HTML]], [[XML]], [[OpenDocument|ODT]] || ''[[EXE]], [[Dynamic-link library|DLL]], [[NTFS]] streams'' || ''RSD mode (RNG-based random data distribution)''
|-
| style="background:whitesmoke" | [http://jpinsoft.net/home.aspx DeepSound] || [[Windows bitmap|BMP]] || [[Compact Disc Digital Audio|Audio CD]], [[APE tag]], [[FLAC]], [[MP3]], [[WAV]], [[Windows Media Audio|WMA]] || - || - || - || ''AES 256-bit encryption''
|-
| style="background:whitesmoke" | ImageSpyer G2 || [[Windows bitmap|BMP]], [[Tagged Image File Format|TIFF]] || - || - || - || - || ''RSD algorithm implemented, plugin for [[Total Commander]] (StegoTC G2)''
|-
| style="background:whitesmoke" | [http://www.petitcolas.net/steganography/mp3stego/ MP3Stego] || - || [[MP3]] || - || - || - || ''Open source''
|-
|-
| style="background:whitesmoke" | [https://sergprogramz.pp.ua/en/mr-crypto-en Mr. Crypto] || [[Windows bitmap|BMP]], [[Portable Network Graphics|PNG]], [[Tagged Image File Format|TIFF]] || - || - || - || - || ''Freemium; interface on English, Russian and Ukrainian; AES and TripleDES encryption. Using [[Least_significant_bit#Least_significant_bit_in_digital_steganography|Least Significant Bit]] for data hiding.''
|-
| style="background:whitesmoke" | [[OpenPuff]] || [[Windows bitmap|BMP]], [[JPEG]], [[Portable Network Graphics|PNG]], [[Truevision TGA|TGA]] || [[MP3]], [[WAV]] || [[3gp]], [[MP4]], [[MPEG-1]], [[MPEG-2]], [[VOB]], [[SWF]], [[FLV]] || [[Pdf]] || - || ''Freeware, 256-bit multi-encryption, Carrier chains, Multi-layered obfuscation''
|-
| style="background:whitesmoke" | OpenStego || [[Windows bitmap|BMP]], [[Portable Network Graphics|PNG]] || - || - || - || - || ''Open source''
|-
|Outguess
|[[JPG]]
| -
| -
| -
| -
|Freeware for macOS
|-
| style="background:whitesmoke" | Outguess-rebirth || [[JPG]] || - || - || - || - || ''Portable freeware Windows (based on Outguess for Linux)''
|-
| style="background:whitesmoke" | PHP-Class StreamSteganography || [[Portable Network Graphics|PNG]] || - || - || - || - || -
|-
|[http://quickcrypto.com/free-steganography-software.html QuickStego / QuickCrypto]
|[[Windows bitmap|BMP]], [[JPEG]], [[Graphics Interchange Format|GIF]]
| -
| -
| -
| -
|Windows XP, Vista, 7
|-
| style="background:whitesmoke" | Red JPEG || [[JPEG]] || - || - || - || - || ''XT for [[Total Commander]], LZMA compression, PRNG-based masking and distribution''
|-
| style="background:whitesmoke" | S-Tools || [[Windows bitmap|BMP]], [[Graphics Interchange Format|GIF]] || [[Wav]] || - || - || ''Unused floppy disk space'' || -
|-
| style="background:whitesmoke" | Steg || [[Windows bitmap|BMP]], [[Portable Network Graphics|PNG]], [[JPEG]], [[Graphics Interchange Format|GIF]] || - || - || - || - || ''Symmetric and asymmetric key cryptography, runs on Win/Linux/Mac''
|-
| style="background:whitesmoke" | StegaMail || [[Windows bitmap|BMP]], [[Portable Network Graphics|PNG]] || - || - || - || - || ''56bit encryption, zLib compression''
|-
| style="background:whitesmoke" | Steganographic Laboratory (VSL) || [[Windows bitmap|BMP]], [[Portable Network Graphics|PNG]], [[JPG]], [[Tagged Image File Format|TIFF]] || - || - || - || - || ''Open source''
|-
| style="background:whitesmoke" | Steganography Studio || [[Windows bitmap|BMP]], [[Portable Network Graphics|PNG]], [[Graphics Interchange Format|GIF]] || - || - || - || - || ''Different hiding methods (LSB, LSB Matching, SLSB), Open source''
|-
|[http://download.cnet.com/SteganPEG/3000-2193_4-75914262.html SteganPEG]
|[[JPEG]]
| -
| -
| -
| -
|Windows XP, Vista, 7
|-
| style="background:whitesmoke" | [[StegFS]] || - || - || - || - || ''[[Steganographic file system]] for [[Linux]]'' || -
|-
| style="background:whitesmoke" | Steghide || [[JPG]], [[Windows bitmap|BMP]] || [[WAV]], [[Au file format|AU]] || - || - || - || ''Open source (GNU General Public License)''
|-
| style="background:whitesmoke" | [[StegoShare]] || [[Windows bitmap|BMP]], [[JPEG]], [[Portable Network Graphics|PNG]], [[Graphics Interchange Format|GIF]], [[Tagged Image File Format|TIFF]] || - || - || - || - || ''Open source''
|}

==Source==

[http://wikipedia.org/ http://wikipedia.org/]

[[Category:Cryptography]]
[[Category:Software]]
[[Category:Data storage]]
==See Also on BitcoinWiki==
* [[Spiral Knights]]
* [[NetShade]]
* [[Yellowcoin]]

Steganography tools - Revision history

Admin: Created page with "'''A steganography software tool''' allows a user to embed hidden data inside a carrier file, such as an image or video, and later extract that data. It is not necessary to c..."