Steganology and information hiding : Stegop2py: embedding data in TCP and IP headers
Arthur, Maya (2021)
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Lataukset:
Arthur, Maya
2021
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2021083117268
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2021083117268
Tiivistelmä
In the time when the explosion of electronic and digital technologies happened, communication technologies concurrently suffered the same growth. Nowadays, for two parties to communicate, it is as easy as dialling a number, or opening an application on a mobile phone provided it is connected to the internet. The benefits provided by such technologies are immense, but in the same manner, so are the privacy concerns.
Advances in cryptography have allowed engineers to develop a vast number of algorithms and tools that can be used to secure communication channels, and even though their security relies upon the fact that a lot of computational power is required for guessing and testing of keys for decryption, they still do not provide total-privacy or secrecy, like the fact that an encrypted message is being sent is still present. Until recent years, steganography has not received the same attention as cryptography, due to the apparent differences in practicality, but that is steadily changing. This research thesis develops on the topic of steganography as a means for secret communication and lays out some examples of the historical use of steganographic techniques in rudimentary media, as well as the use of more modern techniques adapted to more modern technologies.
Even though the topic’s domain of application is extremely wide, the primary aim of this work is to express the fundamental knowledge on steganographic techniques and their applications in physical and digital media. A current information-theoretic steganographic communication model is also presented, along with a way to test the performance of a passive opponent in such a system using hypothesis-testing.
As a secondary aim, a proof-of-concept, stegop2py, for using the fields in the TCP/IP headers as a means of secret communication is presented to give the reader more context for the application of these techniques for understanding the wide applicability of these ideas.
Advances in cryptography have allowed engineers to develop a vast number of algorithms and tools that can be used to secure communication channels, and even though their security relies upon the fact that a lot of computational power is required for guessing and testing of keys for decryption, they still do not provide total-privacy or secrecy, like the fact that an encrypted message is being sent is still present. Until recent years, steganography has not received the same attention as cryptography, due to the apparent differences in practicality, but that is steadily changing. This research thesis develops on the topic of steganography as a means for secret communication and lays out some examples of the historical use of steganographic techniques in rudimentary media, as well as the use of more modern techniques adapted to more modern technologies.
Even though the topic’s domain of application is extremely wide, the primary aim of this work is to express the fundamental knowledge on steganographic techniques and their applications in physical and digital media. A current information-theoretic steganographic communication model is also presented, along with a way to test the performance of a passive opponent in such a system using hypothesis-testing.
As a secondary aim, a proof-of-concept, stegop2py, for using the fields in the TCP/IP headers as a means of secret communication is presented to give the reader more context for the application of these techniques for understanding the wide applicability of these ideas.