Steganography

This would be the first time you have heard the word steganography, and if you have heard it before, you must have possibly thought it was something to do with complicated medication. Well don’t blame yourself as most of the academic and professional societies of computer science are not yet familiar with the term. Likewise it is not even included in the Spell-checking programs. The term is not new and has been used for ages, but would still not emerge from a professional level.
Steganography is the science of hiding information and should not be confused with cryptography. Although there are some small similarities between them as they could both have the same goal but the method is completely different. Cryptography could be defined as a virtual padlock that can be used to convert a message to its intended form. Cryptography method would change a message and you would see a recurring character of unresolved logic where as Steganography Challenges a viewer to notice the presence of the message.

Steganography can be anywhere, it is usually hidden and from a viewers eye, all what is expected to be seen is actually visible except for the hidden message. The goal is the viewer should not even realize that a message exists. An earlier example which I came across reading from an article by William Era references Steganography on time of the Romans. A military general shave a slaves head and ordered a message to be tattooed on the top of his head. The general waited for the slave’s hair to grow back then sent him across the country to the destination where the message was to be received. When the slave reached the destination, He shaved his head and display the message. Here the concept was although the message was clear the only way the message was delivered was through hiding it which is later known as Steganography or Information Hiding. Other examples which I came across from the same article where on the World War II where invisible ink was used to send messages.

Application
Steganography can be applied to any environment which needs information hiding. Possibilities are endless in the human mind. Combining both Steganography plus cryptography would increase the chances where information would stay hidden and not easily cracked to the third party.

Pictures could be embedded with different files which would ease safe passage as opening the file, the only information you would see would be a normal picture.

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