TABLE OF CONTENTS In this chapter we will discuss the technique of steganography and application password cracking. First we will discuss the concept of steganography. Steganography is defined as hiding information in plain site. Steganography differs from cryptography in the fact that steganography does not take a plain text form as input and scramble it into a cipher text like cryptography does. Furthermore, steganography does not alter the form of the information it is hiding. Quite simply, you use steganography to place information inside a file.
There are two types of files that are used in steganography: the file that you use to hold information that can be in the form of text or another file called the carrier file; and the file that is to be inserted into the carrier, known as the hidden file. The carrier file is also referred to as the host file in some steganography documentation. Now that we have explored what steganography is, let s take a look at some of the past history of steganography.
Steganography comes from the joining of two words. These words are of Greek origin: steganos, meaning covert or secretive; and graphie, meaning writing. Putting the two words together means covered writing.
In The Histories, Herodotus documented several instances where steganography was used. One such case involved a Greek named Histaiaeus, who wanted to encourage Aristagoras of Miletus to revolt against the Persian king, and managed to do so in a rather...
