NJIT - PublicInfo: publicinfo/newsroom/stegan

NJIT - PublicInfo: publicinfo/newsroom/stegan NJIT

NJIT Computer Security Course Reveals Spy Secrets

Encryption, long a tool of espionage, has entered the digital era.	July 31, 2003 Spy messages hidden under pictures of naked ladies? One of the hottest post-September 11 rumors had it that Al Quaeda operatives had used encoded data secreted in computer pornography sites to secretly discuss their attacks. Fact or fiction? The scenario is plausible with digital steganography, says NJIT's Ali Akansu. Steganography, from the Greek "steganos" for "covered," takes cryptography farther by hiding an encrypted message so no one knows it exists. In the digital world, this may mean using a special algorithm to hide a file in a digital image, for instance by adding an extra set of color pixels. Separated out, those pixels may spell a secret message. Akansu, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, is a force behind new NJIT courses in computer network security, also known as "information assurance." The courses, which cover data encryption, steganography, and a related practice called "watermarking" are geared to protecting computer networks from such misuse. NJIT Press Release

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