Trends Toward Real-Time Network Data Steganography

International Journal of Network Security & Its Applications (IJNSA)

Nov 29

Trends Toward Real-Time Network Data Steganography

James Collins, Sos Agaian

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA

ABSTRACT

Network steganography has been a well-known covert data channeling method for over three decades. The basic set of techniques and implementation tools have not changed significantly since their introduction in the early 1980's. In this paper, we review the predominant methods of classical network steganography, describing the detailed operations and resultant challenges involved in embedding data in the network transport domain. We also consider the various cyber threat vectors of network steganography and point out the major differences between classical network steganography and the widely known end-point multimedia embedding techniques, which focus exclusively on static data modification for data hiding. We then challenge the security community by introducing an entirely new network data hiding methodology, which we refer to as real-time network data steganography. Finally, we provide the groundwork for this fundamental change of covert network data embedding by introducing a system-level implementation for real-time network data operations that will open the path for even further advances in computer network security.

KEYWORDS

Network Steganography, Real-time Networking, TCP/IP Communications, Network Protocols