An Overview of Steganography
                     AN OVERVIEW OF 
STEGANOGRAPHY
INTRODUCTION
Steganography is the technique of 
hiding secret data within an ordinary, 
non-secret, file or message in order 
to avoid detection; the secret data is 
then extracted at its destination. 
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USE 
The use of steganography can be 
combined with encryption as an 
extra step for hiding or protecting 
data. The word steganography is 
derived from the Greek words 
steganos (meaning hidden or 
covered) and the Greek root graph 
(meaning to write).
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BENEFIT
Steganography can be used to 
conceal almost any type of digital 
content, including text, image, video 
or audio content; the data to be 
hidden can be hidden inside almost 
any other type of digital content. 
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SECRET CONTENT
The content to be concealed through 
steganography called hidden text is 
often encrypted before being 
incorporated into the innocuous-
seeming cover text file or data 
stream. If not encrypted, the hidden 
text is commonly processed in some 
way in order to increase the difficulty 
of detecting the secret content.
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WHAT ARE EXAMPLES 
FOR STEGANOGRAPHY?
Steganography is practiced by those 
wishing to convey a secret message 
or code. While there are many 
legitimate uses for steganography, 
malware developers have also been 
found to use steganography to 
obscure the transmission of 
malicious code.
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FORMS OF 
STEGANOGRAPHY
Forms of steganography have been used for 
centuries and include almost any technique 
for hiding a secret message in an otherwise 
harmless container. 
For example, using invisible ink to hide secret 
messages in otherwise inoffensive messages; 
hiding documents recorded on microdot which 
can be as small as 1 millimeter in diameter on 
or inside legitimate-seeming correspondence; 
and even by using multiplayer gaming 
environments to share information.
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HOW IS 
STEGANOGRAPHY USED 
TODAY?
In modern digital steganography, data is 
first encrypted or obfuscated in some other 
way and then inserted, using a special 
algorithm, into data that is part of a 
particular file format such as a JPEG image, 
audio or video file. 
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WATERMARK
The practice of adding a watermark a 
trademark or other identifying data hidden 
in multimedia or other content files is one 
common use of steganography. 
Watermarking is a technique often used by 
online publishers to identify the source of 
media files that have been found being 
shared without permission.
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EMBED A TEXT FILE INTO 
AN IMAGE FILE
While there are many different uses of 
steganography, including embedding 
sensitive information into file types, one of 
the most common techniques is to embed a 
text file into an image file. 
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ADVANTAGES OF 
STEGANOGRAPHY
The primary advantage of using 
steganography to hide data over encryption 
is that it helps obscure the fact that there is 
sensitive data hidden in the file or other 
content carrying the hidden text. 
Whereas an encrypted file, message or 
network packet payload is clearly marked 
and identifiable as such, using 
steganographic techniques helps to obscure 
the presence of the secure channel.
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