Network Covert Channels: Subversive Secrecy

Confidentiality, one of the primary goals of information security, is most frequently achieved utilizing cryptography. There exist other methods to conceal information from unauthorized or undesired viewers. One category of noncryptographic concealment techniques, called covert channels, can hide information locally on a system or mask traffic as it passes over a network. This report will explore the art of hiding data as it traverses a network. This paper will analyze motivations for network covert channels, survey current data hiding research and tools, and evaluate countermeasures to detect and prevent network-based steganography.