See steganography in Webster''s New World Hacker Dictionary
Consider the potential that steganography could have for terrorists trying to communicate with each other over the Internet. In a holiday e-picture, for example, dozens of pixels in the background could be altered to convey an airline’s schedule, and to some casual observer or to an FBI agent, the picture would likely appear to be “innocent” because the majority of the pixels would be left unchanged. However, anybody who was told where to look could access the information hidden in the amended pixels, which could then be put together and read.
Steganography involves a simple procedure that can be performed with software purchased from stores or downloaded from the Internet. The main reason for using steganography rather than cryptography is that anything encrypted tends to draw attention to the fact that some important information is deliberately being hidden.
See Also: Internet; Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
See steganography in Computer
Hiding a message within an image, audio or video file. Used as an alternate to encryption, it takes advantage of unused bits within the file structure or bits that are mostly undetectable if altered. A steganographic message rides secretly to its destination, unlike encrypted messages, which although undecipherable without the decryption key, can be identified as encrypted. For a white paper on the subject written by Neil F. Johnson of George Mason University, visit www.jjtc.com/Steganography. See ScramDisk.