review articles

I M A G E B Y A N D R I J B O R Y S A S S O C I A T E S / S H U T T E R S T O C K

INFORMATION HIDING IS a research domain that covers a wide spectrum of methods that are used to make (secret) data difficult to notice. Due to improvements in network defenses such techniques are recently gaining an increasing attention from actors like cybercriminals, terrorist and state-sponsored groups as they allow to store data or to cloak communication in a way that is not easily discoverble. 22 There are several real-world cases that reached the attention of the public media, including the following: 23, 38

˲ the arrest of one of al Qaeda’s members in Berlin with video files containing hidden information on ongoing and future terrorists’ operations (2012),a

˲ the exfiltration of confidential data from the U.S. to Moscow by Russian spies (2010),b

˲ the transfer of child pornographic
material by a group of pedophiles called
“Shadowz Brotherhood” (2002),c and
In these cases, information-hid-
ing techniques were used to hide the
confidential or illegal data into inno-
cent-looking material, for example,
digital pictures.

Steganography is a well-known
subfield of information hiding that
aims is to cloak secret data in a suit-
able carrier. Since the time of An-
cient Greece, over the Medieval
Ages, to today’s world, information
hiding has been often used to con-
ceal messages on their way to a de-
sired recipient. 38 For instance, mu-
sic notes were utilized to embed
secret information that was only rec-
ognizable by the person that knows
where to look for it. Another example
for steganography is the writing with
invisible ink. 26 The use of covert tech-
niques grew significantly during the
two World Wars, in which the mili-
a http://edition.cnn.com/2012/04/30/world/al-
qaeda-documents-future/

b http://www.bbc.com/news/10442869
c http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/
2082657.stm
d http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/news/
2001-02-05-binladen-side.htm
Information

Hiding:
Challenges
for Forensic
Experts
DOI: 10.1145/3158416
The practice of hiding ill-gotten data
in digital objects is rising among
cyber thieves. New initiatives serve to
educate, train, and thwart these activities.
BY WOJCIECH MAZURCZYK AND STEFFEN WENDZEL
key insights

˽ This article provides an introduction to the current state of information hiding.

˽ Steganography-utilization in cybercrime is explored.

˽ The objectives of the Criminal Use of Information Hiding (CUIng) initiative are examined.