01-06-2012, 10:36 AM
Digital Steganography for Information Security
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INTRODUCTION
The conventional way of securing data transactions is through the use of standard encryption key
techniques such as RSA, DES, and 3DES. In the past three years, however; a new branch of data security
techniques known as digital steganography has evolved and is continuing to receive a great deal of
attention from both the academic and industrial communities [1,2]. Since then, a number of companies
have established in the US and Europe to commercialize and market steganography products. Many of
these steganography products were developed as plug-ins and OEM applications.
DIGITAL STEGANOGRAPHY
The applications of digital steganography in various e-commerce applications through the Internet will be
discussed in detail. These applications include digital watermarking for copyright protection of multimedia
data, digital signature authentication and validation of electronic documents, digital data storage and
linkage for binding digitized photographs with personal attribute information, as well as secure
communication of multimedia data. Targeting these applications, DataMark Technologies (DMT) have
developed four digital steganography products based on their patent-pending algorithms [3,4,5], as follows:
1. Secure Communication (StegCommTM)
2. Digital Signature Authentication (StegSignTM)
3. Digital Watermarking (StegMarkTM)
4. Digital Storage and Linkage (StegSafeTM)
SECURE COMMUNICATION
StegCommTM is a state-of-the-art digital steganography software package developed by DMT for
confidential multimedia communication. The software allows the user to select a multimedia data file or
"container" for embedding hidden text, audio sequence, video clip, or any form of data file. Figure 1
illustrates the basic concept of digital steganography when applied to text encoding. The contents of the
text message are hashed with those of the container file to produce a key file. The key file is also known as
a “Stegfile”.
Many conventional steganography techniques simply incorporate a combination of cryptography and
steganography. The cryptography operation is used first to scramble the hidden text. For steganography
operation, the scrambled data is then inserted or "hidden" into the least significant bits (LSB) of the
container data. One of the common drawbacks of these techniques is that the container file has to be of
certain size greater than the hidden file. Other limitations include the knowledge required on the exact
location of the hidden text, the limited container data formats, and the export restriction of using encryption
algorithms to certain countries. These difficulties are circumvented by the use of StegComm™. First,
StegCommTM utilises a patent-pending lossless algorithm (the HTTY algorithm) that does not affect the
data integrity of the container file. Second, the program is completely independent of the size of the
container file relative to that of the hidden file. Third, as steganography is a relatively new field, there are
currently no export restrictions on products that incorporate this technology.
DIGITAL SIGNATURE AUTHENTICATION
StegSignTM is a software product specifically developed by DMT to prevent malicious tampering of private
and confidential documents. These documents include company memos, Emails and letters. StegSignTM can
provide a wide spectrum of applications in the e-commerce sector. Such e-commerce applications include
business transactions between banks and customers, legal document exchanges between lawyers and
clients, and scenarios involving non-repudiation issues. This product will detect any unwarranted tampering
and alert the receiver side immediately.
StegSignTM incorporates patent-pending algorithms filed by DMT. A digital signature and a multimedia
container password are embedded into the confidential document. The basic operation of StegSignTM is
illustrated through a data flow diagram as shown in figure 4. The digital signature can be inputted as a
handwritten signature or as a personal seal. The container password can either be a normal text string, an
image, or a binary file. For the Professional version, encryption is available to provide another added layer
of security for the "signed" document. More mathematical random lock combinations for data embedding
are also included in the Professional version. Figure 5 illustrates a typical GUI sample from StegSignTM.
DIGITAL WATERMARKING
StegMarkTM is a digital watermarking software for copyright protection of digital images, music CDs,
DVDs, and other forms of multimedia data. In the case of digital images, the files can come from a variety
of sources, such as the Internet, digital still cameras, and video cameras. Many digital watermarking
techniques in the market embed only a certain number of bits or characters into the image. However,
StegMarkTM can embed either a text or image watermark invisibly into an "unlabelled" image. The text
watermark can be of many characters, for example, for a colour image of size 512 x 512, more than a few
thousand characters may be embedded.
[attachment=23781]
INTRODUCTION
The conventional way of securing data transactions is through the use of standard encryption key
techniques such as RSA, DES, and 3DES. In the past three years, however; a new branch of data security
techniques known as digital steganography has evolved and is continuing to receive a great deal of
attention from both the academic and industrial communities [1,2]. Since then, a number of companies
have established in the US and Europe to commercialize and market steganography products. Many of
these steganography products were developed as plug-ins and OEM applications.
DIGITAL STEGANOGRAPHY
The applications of digital steganography in various e-commerce applications through the Internet will be
discussed in detail. These applications include digital watermarking for copyright protection of multimedia
data, digital signature authentication and validation of electronic documents, digital data storage and
linkage for binding digitized photographs with personal attribute information, as well as secure
communication of multimedia data. Targeting these applications, DataMark Technologies (DMT) have
developed four digital steganography products based on their patent-pending algorithms [3,4,5], as follows:
1. Secure Communication (StegCommTM)
2. Digital Signature Authentication (StegSignTM)
3. Digital Watermarking (StegMarkTM)
4. Digital Storage and Linkage (StegSafeTM)
SECURE COMMUNICATION
StegCommTM is a state-of-the-art digital steganography software package developed by DMT for
confidential multimedia communication. The software allows the user to select a multimedia data file or
"container" for embedding hidden text, audio sequence, video clip, or any form of data file. Figure 1
illustrates the basic concept of digital steganography when applied to text encoding. The contents of the
text message are hashed with those of the container file to produce a key file. The key file is also known as
a “Stegfile”.
Many conventional steganography techniques simply incorporate a combination of cryptography and
steganography. The cryptography operation is used first to scramble the hidden text. For steganography
operation, the scrambled data is then inserted or "hidden" into the least significant bits (LSB) of the
container data. One of the common drawbacks of these techniques is that the container file has to be of
certain size greater than the hidden file. Other limitations include the knowledge required on the exact
location of the hidden text, the limited container data formats, and the export restriction of using encryption
algorithms to certain countries. These difficulties are circumvented by the use of StegComm™. First,
StegCommTM utilises a patent-pending lossless algorithm (the HTTY algorithm) that does not affect the
data integrity of the container file. Second, the program is completely independent of the size of the
container file relative to that of the hidden file. Third, as steganography is a relatively new field, there are
currently no export restrictions on products that incorporate this technology.
DIGITAL SIGNATURE AUTHENTICATION
StegSignTM is a software product specifically developed by DMT to prevent malicious tampering of private
and confidential documents. These documents include company memos, Emails and letters. StegSignTM can
provide a wide spectrum of applications in the e-commerce sector. Such e-commerce applications include
business transactions between banks and customers, legal document exchanges between lawyers and
clients, and scenarios involving non-repudiation issues. This product will detect any unwarranted tampering
and alert the receiver side immediately.
StegSignTM incorporates patent-pending algorithms filed by DMT. A digital signature and a multimedia
container password are embedded into the confidential document. The basic operation of StegSignTM is
illustrated through a data flow diagram as shown in figure 4. The digital signature can be inputted as a
handwritten signature or as a personal seal. The container password can either be a normal text string, an
image, or a binary file. For the Professional version, encryption is available to provide another added layer
of security for the "signed" document. More mathematical random lock combinations for data embedding
are also included in the Professional version. Figure 5 illustrates a typical GUI sample from StegSignTM.
DIGITAL WATERMARKING
StegMarkTM is a digital watermarking software for copyright protection of digital images, music CDs,
DVDs, and other forms of multimedia data. In the case of digital images, the files can come from a variety
of sources, such as the Internet, digital still cameras, and video cameras. Many digital watermarking
techniques in the market embed only a certain number of bits or characters into the image. However,
StegMarkTM can embed either a text or image watermark invisibly into an "unlabelled" image. The text
watermark can be of many characters, for example, for a colour image of size 512 x 512, more than a few
thousand characters may be embedded.