Different Medias of Steganography- An Emerging Field of Network Security

Steganography, literally meaning “secret writing”, involves hiding a data file in another innocuous-looking file. From the time of Herodotus in Greece, to the defense mechanisms of today, steganography has been used to deny one’s adversaries the knowledge of message traffic. Steganography takes one piece of information and hides it within another. A “container file” holds the secret message in it, in such a way that the existence of the message cannot be suspected. This could be done in several possible ways, with newer methods being discovered with each passing day. In this paper, a detailed analysis of steganography is made. The history of steganography is briefly dealt with. How steganography works is examined, keeping in mind Bender’s specifications. Data hiding is implemented in three different media; text, audio and image files. Each offers challenges and solutions to these challenges are analysed. How they is implemented using steganographic tools is also seen. The main characteristics of steganographic software are discussed, together with the various forms of steganographic methods. Steganalysis, the science of detecting steganography is touched upon. The weaknesses of steganography are also described, together with measures for improvement. The paper concludes by taking a look at the potential of steganography and the changes it can bring about as the future of network security. Keywords— steganography, Steganographic tools, Network