Hiding in Plain Sight: Steganography and the Art of Covert Communication (Paperback)

by Eric Cole (Author) "Though security is nothing new, the way that security has become a part of our daily lives today is unprecedented..." (more)
Key Phrases: overt file, int siz, char marker, United States, Sample Certainty, Digital Picture Envelope (more...)

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)

Review
“…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)

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: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #229,188 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  Books > Computers & Internet > Programming > Algorithms > Cryptography

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)

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 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).

3 of 4 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.com" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews

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.

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