Hiding in Plain Sight: Steganography and the Art of Covert Communication [Paperback]

Eric Cole (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471444499 | ISBN-13: 978-0471444497 | Publication Date: April 11, 2003

• Explains exactly what steganography is-hiding a message inside an innocuous picture or music file-and how it has become a popular tool for secretly sending and receiving messages for both the good guys and the bad guys
• First book to describe international terrorists' cybersecurity tool of choice in an accessible language
• Author is a top security consultant for the CIA and provides gripping stories that show how steganography works
• Appendix provides tools to help people detect and counteract stenanography

Editorial Reviews

Review

&a good introduction to an emergent technology& -- ContentPeople, 19 September 2003

&a very good book, giving cogent, lucid explanations& -- Technology & Society, 30 September 2003

&an interesting read& -- PC Utilities, July 2003

“…an interesting read…”(PC Utilities, July 2003)

“…a very good book, giving cogent, lucid explanations…” (Technology & Society, 30 September 2003)

“…a good introduction to an emergent technology…” (ContentPeople, 19 September 2003)

“…an interesting read…”(PC Utilities, July 2003)

“…a very good book, giving cogent, lucid explanations…” (Technology & Society, 30 September 2003)

“…a good introduction to an emergent technology…” (ContentPeople, 19 September 2003)

From the Back Cover

Your hands-on guide to understanding, detecting, and using today’s most potent tool for secret communication–steganography

These days, encryption of confidential data and communications is an increasingly important part of doing business. But steganography can take data confidentiality to a whole new level, since it hides encrypted messages in ordinary-looking data files, making the very existence of the messages practically undetectable. Although steganography is not a new field and has played a critical part in secret communication throughout history, few people understand exactly how it works today. This detailed, practical guide changes that–whether your goal is to add an extra level of security to business or government communications or to detect and counter steganography when it’s used by criminals or terrorists.

By teaching you how to protect your vital data and detect information attacks against networks, Cole aims to expose security threats so you can take action to minimize the damage going forward. He explores such topics as:

• The basics of cryptography and digital water- marking, two companion technologies that are often used in concert with steganography
• Who is using steganography and some of the ethical and legal challenges our society faces when privacy and security collide
• The nuts and bolts of using steganography tools and transmitting hidden data over networks
• Methods you can use to crack steganography and cryptography
• "Steganography in Action Stories"–fictionalized versions of the kind of secret communication scenarios Cole observed during his years working for the CIA and as a security consultant
• Ideas for keeping your own communications secure
• Where steganography is headed in the future

The CD-ROM includes not only valuable original source code for steganography techniques discussed in the book, but also several popular steganography tools, and color versions of original and manipulated images from the book for you to compare.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (April 11, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471444499
• ISBN-13: 978-0471444497
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #202,686 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #45 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Algorithms > Cryptography

More About the Author

Dr. Eric Cole is a technology visionary and computer security specialist who thrives on solving complex problems. Cole is an industry-recognized security expert with over 20 years of hands-on experience. His career is highlighted on starting and creating new companies, organizations and products. He loves creating new entities and discovering creative ways of solving complex problems. Cole's primary love is cyber security; but, he understands in order to be successful at securing an organization, you must have a detailed understanding of networks and related fields. He is passionate about customer service and his role as a network security expert and always exceeds his clients' expectations.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but basic, and the editor should be fired., December 23, 2004

By 

M. Karapcik "Mike" (Temple Terrace, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hiding in Plain Sight: Steganography and the Art of Covert Communication (Paperback)

The information is quite good, though not very in depth. The examples are good, as they explain, "See, this really *can* be used in 'real life'." There is also some programming information, so for some parts (nothing critical, just program design), a knowledge of C is useful. Personally, this is my first book on steganography, so the technicality of the information was at a good level (informative, but not buried in jargon or advanced math). I have no programming background, but skipping the program designs was not a detriment in any way.

However... I think the editor should be bludgeoned once or twice with something heavy. I have written some documentation, and the editor did things that I know never to do. First, there are a few grammatical errors, which cause serious problems if you are not paying attention. (In one example, it is said the user (I don't have the book in front of me) "attaches her private PGP key, encrypts it with [the other's] public PGP key, and sends the email". This is after saying many times "NEVER EVER SHARE YOUR PRIVATE PGP KEY!!!". Then, the example goes on to say the recipient "uses the public PGP key, which is attached...". (The first sentence should have read "public PGP key"). In addition to one or two other situations like this, there is also an issue with the inline images. They all appear only at the top and bottom of the page, while the author clearly intends for some to be in paragraphs. The author says things like "as seen in this image:", but the sentence continues, and "this image", the number of which is not given, is elsewhere on the page. Further, many images have the eight resize anchor points and thick border visible from screen shots; these should have been Photoshop'ed out (it's not that hard, I've done it with Paintbrush).

If you are looking for advanced work, skip this. For a basic work, I would give it five stars, but the editors errors are so bad....

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great combination of technical detail & background, November 11, 2003

By 

"geek_michael" (Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hiding in Plain Sight: Steganography and the Art of Covert Communication (Paperback)

This book does an outstanding job of combining both technical details and background to create a very interesting read. It's not dry like most of the other books on this subject, and I truly enjoyed reading it. The author does a great job incorporating analogies and explainations to demonstrate "practical" applications. I would highly recommend this book to anyone that is either new to the subject, or would like a refresher to expand their knowledge of the subject (like myself).

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Discover The Art of Hiding Data, February 10, 2005

By 

Tony Bradley "s3kur3" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Hiding in Plain Sight: Steganography and the Art of Covert Communication (Paperback)

Not knowing much other than the definition of steganography before opening this book I found it very easy to read and very informative.

Eric Cole has a background in working with hidden data and his experience is translated into a book that even users new to the concepts of covert communication can understand. The fictionalized stories of actual events help the reader to understand how these tools are used every day by both the good guys and the bad guys.

The book covers a basic history and background of cryptography and digital watermarking as well as steganography and then gets into more detail about the techniques and concepts of "stego". It does provide source code, but may not be "meaty" enough for steganography experts.

(...)