JPEG Steganography: Hiding in Plain Sight

Authors: Hasan Fayyad-Kazan*, Elissa Saba, Hussin J Hejase, Ali El Dirani and Hassan Rkein

DOI: 10.23880/ijfsc-16000223

Volume 6, Issue 1

Abstract

Steganography and steganalysis are important topics in hiding data. Since antiquity steganography has existed in protecting sensitive information against unauthorized unveiling attempts, it hides messages in plain sight. On the flip side, steganalysis tries to detect the existence of the message or even more to retrieve the embedded data. Nevertheless, internet’s growth, reveals that steganography has been used as a tool for illegal acts such as child pornography or terrorism. Given this background, both steganography and steganalysis received a great deal of attention, especially from law enforcement. On the other hand, universal steganographic methods adjustable to real-world applications are practiced on a large scale using different softwares and algorithms. Thus, it is necessary to set up even more accurate steganalysis techniques capable of detecting the hidden data. Considering this, this work is intended as technical introduction to steganography for those unfamiliar with the field and delivers a practical understanding of it without delving into the mathematics. It also provides a historical context alongside a detailed review for steganography and steganalysis of digital images, mainly in JPEG format. Examples of software tools to hide secret data inside JPEG images as well as software to detect such hidden files will also be presented.

Keywords: Steganography; Steganalysis; JPEG; LSB; DCT; Stego-Image

View PDF