by: Peter Wayner publisher: Morgan Kaufmann released: 2008-12-12 ISBN: 0123744792 Price: $56.40 Buy Now!
Description
Cryptology is the practice of hiding digital information by means of various obfuscatory and steganographic techniques. The application of said techniques facilitates message confidentiality and sender/receiver identity authentication, and helps to ensure the integrity and security of computer passwords, ATM card information, digital signatures, DVD and HDDVD content, and electronic commerce. Cryptography is also central to digital rights management (DRM), a group of techniques for technologically controlling the use of copyrighted material that is being widely implemented and deployed at the behest of corporations that own and create revenue from the hundreds of thousands of mini-transactions that take place daily on programs like iTunes.
This new edition of our best-selling book on cryptography and information hiding delineates a number of different methods to hide information in all types of digital media files. These methods include encryption, compression, data embedding and watermarking, data mimicry, and scrambling. During the last 5 years, the continued advancement and exponential increase of computer processing power have enhanced the efficacy and scope of electronic espionage and content appropriation. Therefore, this edition has amended and expanded outdated sections in accordance with new dangers, and includes 5 completely new chapters that introduce newer more sophisticated and refined cryptographic algorithms and techniques (such as fingerprinting, synchronization, and quantization) capable of withstanding the evolved forms of attack.
Each chapter is divided into sections, first providing an introduction and high-level summary for those who wish to understand the concepts without wading through technical explanations, and then presenting concrete examples and greater detail for those who want to write their own programs. This combination of practicality and theory allows programmers and system designers to not only implement tried and true encryption procedures, but also consider probable future developments in their designs, thus fulfilling the need for preemptive caution that is becoming ever more explicit as the transference of digital media escalates.
* Includes 5 completely new chapters that delineate the most current and sophisticated cryptographic algorithms, allowing readers to protect their information against even the most evolved electronic attacks.
* Conceptual tutelage in conjunction with detailed mathematical directives allows the reader to not only understand encryption procedures, but also to write programs which anticipate future security developments in their design.
* Grants the reader access to online source code which can be used to directly implement proven cryptographic procedures such as data mimicry and reversible grammar generation into their own work. Buy Now!
5 customer reviews (average rating: )
Accessible introduction to a fascinating topic. August 12, 2006
This is a very easy read that does not really assume much about the reader other than mathematical maturity at the precalculus level, knowledge of programming in a higher level language, and a curiosity about hiding information in such things as images. In fact, I bought this book to get a grasp on how to hide a watermark in an image. The early chapters are devoted to material that forms the basic toolkit for steganography - private key encryption, secret sharing, and error correcting codes. The later chapters describe how to apply these techniques in various ways to hide information.
Chapter 5 discusses common data compression algorithms, not to the point that you could write an encoder/decoder system, but so that you know which allow perfect reconstruction and which do not. Compression leads to the topic of mimicry, which is the subject of chapter 6. Basic mimicry produces text that looks statistically similar to the original text but is far from perfect. Chapter 7 shows methods of improving mimicry techniques so that the mimicked text not only passes statistical tests for similarity to the original, but passes rules for grammar. This leads to the concept of context free grammars and their role in mimicry. Thus, you can hide data in realistic sounding text.
Chapter 8 concentrates on a robust and complete model known as the Turing machine. Such a machine hides data as it "runs forward", while running the machine in reverse allows the hidden data to be recovered. Certain proofs show that this is a stronger data hiding model than those previously discussed.
Chapter nine discusses a more image-processing related data hiding topic - hiding in the noise. What appears as noise to the untrained eye can actually be a message. Of course, the flip side of this is "real" noise has the power to obscure the hidden message.
Chapter 10 discusses anonymous remailers, which is the deletion of the name of the originator of a message by an intermediate node. Such systems can range from very secure to very insecure depending on strategies involved. Chapter 11,"Secret Broadcasts", is a companion chapter on how to broadcast a message so that everyone can read it but nobody knows the source. The solution lies in the "Dining Cryptographers" algorithm, and this solution is discussed at length.
Chapter 12, "Keys", discusses message keys as extensions to the concept of keys in basic cryptography, which was discussed earlier in the book. Adding keys to any algorithm discussed up to this point makes that algorithm stronger. Chapter 13, "Ordering and Reordering", discusses how steganography strategies might be disrupted by reordering parts of a message, and discusses methods that might prevent this from being a problem.
Chapter 14, "Spreading", is a more mathematical chapter than the preceding ones and takes a different approach to the problem of information hiding. It takes ideas from spread spectrum radio and applies them to steganography. This is the one chapter where a knowledge of calculus, Fourier transforms, and even wavelets will be helpful.
The last three chapters, "Synthetic Worlds", "Watermarks", and "Steganalysis" are short and more subjective than previous ones, mainly giving the reader a broad overview of these topics.
The book has a wealth of algorithms, equations, and simple examples. There is even a very basic Java mimicry program in the appendix. However, this is not a programming book full of ready to implement solutions - you will have to do that yourself. There are numerous references to web addresses where you can find both executable and source code for implementing some of the algorithms mentioned in this book. I would say if you are interested in hiding information in data of any kind - text, sound, imagery, etc. - then this book is essential reading. I highly recommend it. Buy Now!
One year after purchase, I keep opening this book. August 18, 2003
All in all just a fascinating book on a fascinating topic. In general, the introductory parts of each chapter are accessible to anyone with a standard 12 year education. The mathematics are best understood by people with a background in algebra and statistics at the American High School level, but not much more. If you buy this book, expect John Ashcroft to put your name on a list of people buying dangerous published works (and with the Patriot Act in place, I am neither paranoid nor joking). The best chapter is the one about encoding information in ordered lists. This book taught me how to include a one line hidden message in a 50 item list of my favorite Country and Western Songs of all time (and THAT is a cool thing to do). Buy Now!
Excelent book. February 12, 2003
I read the entire book from first to last page and enjoyed the content absolutely. The book has theory and practice, clear examples and many references to free and open source software to make tests. The math part has razonable level (not too much, not to little). I have no found anything better in the area. Good for Peter Wayner!
You know you are a crypto geek when..... September 30, 2002
This book is a great introduction to learning how to hide data in places most people wouldn't think about looking. Sample code and various URL's are provided for places to start, this not the easiest subject to grasp, but the book helps put it at a manageable level.
This is a deep, serious book about making information transmogrify, even if there are a few silly parts. I liked the funny parts and they reminded me of Goedel Escher and Bach Buy Now!
by: Frank Y. Shih publisher: CRC released: 2007-12-17 ISBN: 1420047574 Price: $63.96 Buy Now!
Description
Every day millions of people capture, store, transmit, and manipulate digital data. Unfortunately free access digital multimedia communication also provides virtually unprecedented opportunities to pirate copyrighted material. Providing the theoretical background needed to develop and implement advanced techniques and algorithms, Digital Watermarking and Steganography—
· Demonstrates how to develop and implement methods to guarantee the authenticity of digital media
· Explains the categorization of digital watermarking techniques based on characteristics as well as applications
· Presents cutting-edge techniques such as the GA-based breaking algorithm on the frequency-domain steganalytic system.
The popularity of digital media continues to soar. The theoretical foundation presented within this valuable reference will facilitate the creation on new techniques and algorithms to combat present and potential threats against information security. Buy Now!
2 customer reviews (average rating: )
Watermarking text. September 1, 2008
This is a good watermarking text. It is good for someone who wants to get started in the field since it explains all kinds of watermarking techniques and attacks. Even though the book cover a lot of areas, its size is still very reasonable for the new people. Buy Now!
A comprehensive review of Digital Watermarking and Seganography. January 12, 2008
This book is the most comprehensive and highly technical book on digital watermarking and steganography. Its a must have for anyone working in the field of Information Security. Buy Now!
by: Ingemar Cox, Matthew Miller, Jeffrey Bloom, Jessica Fridrich, Ton Kalker publisher: Morgan Kaufmann released: 2007-11-16 ISBN: 0123725852 Price: $63.96 Buy Now!
Description
Digital audio, video, images, and documents are flying through cyberspace to their respective owners. Unfortunately, along the way, individuals may choose to intervene and take this content for themselves. Digital watermarking and steganography technology greatly reduces the instances of this by limiting or eliminating the ability of third parties to decipher the content that he has taken. The many techiniques of digital watermarking (embedding a code) and steganography (hiding information) continue to evolve as applications that necessitate them do the same. The authors of this second edition provide an update on the framework for applying these techniques that they provided researchers and professionals in the first well-received edition. Steganography and steganalysis (the art of detecting hidden information) have been added to a robust treatment of digital watermarking, as many in each field research and deal with the other. New material includes watermarking with side information, QIM, and dirty-paper codes. The revision and inclusion of new material by these influential authors has created a must-own book for anyone in this profession.
*This new edition now contains essential information on steganalysis and steganography *New concepts and new applications including QIM introduced *Digital watermark embedding is given a complete update with new processes and applications Buy Now!
by: Mohammed F. Al-Hunaity, Salam A. Najim, Ibrahiem M. El-Emary publisher: Thomson Gale released: 2008-01-04 Price: $9.95 Buy Now!
Description
This digital document is an article from American Journal of Applied Sciences, published by Thomson Gale on September 1, 2007. The length of the article is 2355 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
From the author: Keywords: Watermarking, Steganography, Wavelet, Compression, LSB, Image, BMP, RGB.
Citation Details Title: Colored digital image watermarking using the wavelet technique. Author: Mohammed F. Al-Hunaity Publication:American Journal of Applied Sciences (Magazine/Journal) Date: September 1, 2007 Publisher: Thomson Gale Volume: 4 Issue: 9 Page: 658(5)
by: Mohammed F. Al-Hunaity, Salam A. Najim, Ibrahiem M. El-Emary publisher: Springer released: 2007-08-23 ISBN: 0387737413 Price: $149.00 Buy Now!
Description
ADVANCES IN DIGITAL FORENSICS III
Edited by: Philip Craiger and Sujeet Shenoi
Digital forensics deals with the acquisition, preservation, examination, analysis and presentation of electronic evidence. Networked computing, wireless communications and portable electronic devices have expanded the role of digital forensics beyond traditional computer crime investigations. Practically every crime now involves some aspect of digital evidence; digital forensics provides the techniques and tools to articulate this evidence. Digital forensics also has myriad intelligence applications. Furthermore, it has a vital role in information assurance -- investigations of security breaches yield valuable information that can be used to design more secure systems.
Advances in Digital Forensics III describes original research results and innovative applications in the emerging discipline of digital forensics. In addition, it highlights some of the major technical and legal issues related to digital evidence and electronic crime investigations. The areas of coverage include:
- Legal Issues
- Insider Threat Detection
- Rootkit Detection
- Authorship Attribution
- Forensic Techniques
- File System Forensics
- Network Forensics
- Portable Electronic Device Forensics
- Evidence Analysis and Management
- Formal Methods
This book is the third volume in the annual series produced by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) Working Group 11.9 on Digital Forensics, an international community of scientists, engineers and practitioners dedicated to advancing the state of the art of research and practice in digital forensics. The book contains a selection of twenty-four edited papers from the Third Annual IFIP WG 11.9 Conference on Digital Forensics, held at the National Center for Forensic Science, Orlando, Florida, USA in the spring of 2007.
Advances in Digital Forensics III is an important resource for researchers, faculty members and graduate students, as well as for practitioners and individuals engaged in research and development efforts for the law enforcement and intelligence communities.
by: Gregory Kipper publisher: Taylor & Francis released: 2007-04-16 Price: $57.56 Buy Now!
Description
The Investigator's Guide to Steganography provides a comprehensive look at this unique form of hidden communication from its beginnings to modern uses. It begins by exploring the past; providing insight into how this steganography began and evolved from ancient times to present day. It continues with an in-depth look at the workings of digital steganography and watermarking methods, available tools on the Internet, and the companies who are providing cutting edge steganography and watermarking services. The third section outlines real world uses of steganography. The book concludes by reviewing steganography detection methods and what can be expected in the future.
Steganography is the hidding of messages in plain sight, it hides a message within another message that looks like a normal message. This is different from Cryptography in which the secret message is converted to what looks like a meaningless jumble of characters.
Example: You mail a letter. It currently takes 37 cents in postage. Instead of using a 37 cent stamp you use stamps of the following values: 9 cents, 2 cents, 3 cents, 1 cent, 9 cents, 4 cents, 9 cents. That's the right amount of postage so the letter goes through. But the letter is meaningless. The message you sent is 9-2-3-1-9-4-9. Perhaps this means September 23, 1949, or perhaps it's comething else that the receiver understands. Or perhaps the message is in the green ink that you used to address the envelope.
When you get to computers you can be far, far more secretive. A movie or audio file can be millions of bytes long. Changing a few bits here or there would be completely undetectable but could incorporate a huge message.
This book is intended to be a guide to law enforcemtn investigators and cyber-forensics. It describes the techniques and the literally dozens of programs that exist (usually free on the web) for hiding messages and several programs for detecting these messages. This is an area that has received little attention in the past and this book does a very good job of bringing this field out into the open. Buy Now!
A comprehensive and useful work!. November 21, 2003
As a security focused manager the more I learn about steganography, the art of hiding messages, the more concerned I become about its security implications. These techniques allow an individual to use secrecy in communications.
I am sure the book aids the investigator, but it helps a manager understand how secrecy has been used in the past and the present as well. A tremendous amount of research must have gone into the book to be so comprehensive. I was already familiar with S-tools and a few other picture file related techniques, but had never considered slight alterations of the space between letters and had never heard of Civil war quilts. The beginning of the book is packed with technique after technique.
The author, Greg Kipper is to be congratulated for such clear writing especially considering how complex the subject gets.
The publisher, CRC Press, went the extra mile to create a very detailed table of contents so the reader can find what they need fast.
The bottom line, this book is an excellent coverage of the subject and yet they packed it into about 200 pages so it is 100% fluff free.
One concern and one wish. The coverage of tools is a bit spotty, the links to stego tools seem to change rapidly and some of the tools do not even have a link. If you can't find a tool you might try: http://www.stegoarchive.com/ that is what I use. I hope this goes to second edition and if so, my wish is that the author will beef up the detection chapter. Greg does such a great job of showing how stego can and has been used in the real world, I would love more information about how I can protect myself and apply detective controls in my organization's network. Buy Now!
by: Nameer N. EL-Emam publisher: Thomson Gale released: 2007-12-12 Price: $9.95 Buy Now!
Description
This digital document is an article from Journal of Computer Science, published by Thomson Gale on April 1, 2007. The length of the article is 4686 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
From the author: Key words: Hiding with high security, hiding with high capacity, adaptive image segmentation, steganography
Citation Details Title: Hiding a large amount of data with high security using steganography algorithm. Author: Nameer N. EL-Emam Publication:Journal of Computer Science (Magazine/Journal) Date: April 1, 2007 Publisher: Thomson Gale Volume: 3 Issue: 4 Page: 223(10)
by: Jack Wiles, Johnny Long, Russ Rogers, Ron Green publisher: Syngress released: 2007-02-01 ISBN: 1597491381 Price: $53.95 Buy Now!
Description
It seems that all that is important to us resides in some database, somewhere--staying secure can be a full time job. Many of the war stories and lessons learned in this book will be threats you never knew existed. Seasoned security experts from many fields have joined forces to create a guide that managers can be used to shorten your learning curve on how to get -- and stay -- secure in a techno world. How much do you know about getting and staying secure in a rapidly changing techno world? Before you answer that, let's ask a much more important question. How much don't you know about staying secure? This book will help re-enforce many of the threats that you already know about, as well as introducing you to at least a few that you probably never even thought of. The experts who share their experiences through its chapters come from many different areas with different security concerns. All of them are senior level managers who have been thru the trenches in reacting to a multitude of security risks, threats, vulnerabilities and countermeasures. Many are considered by their piers to be among the best security minds in the world today. If you take the time to read their chapters, you will learn something that will help you remain secure in a rapidly changing technical world. Buy Now!
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Watermarking text. September 1, 2008 
