What is steganography
Steganography is the practice of concealing a message, file, or piece of information within another, seemingly innocuous, medium to avoid detection. Unlike encryption, which hides the content of a message but not its existence, steganography aims to make the hidden message completely undetectable.
### Key Aspects:
1. **Concealment**: The hidden information is embedded in a carrier medium such as images, audio files, or text, which appears normal to an observer.
2. **Carrier Medium**: Common carriers include digital images, sound files, or even physical objects where the hidden data is embedded.
3. **Detection Difficulty**: The goal is to hide the existence of the message, making it difficult for unauthorized parties to detect or recognize the presence of hidden information.
4. **Steganalysis**: The field of steganalysis involves detecting and analyzing steganographic methods to uncover hidden messages.
5. **Applications**: Steganography is used for secure communications, watermarking, and covert data transfer, but it can also be exploited for malicious purposes.
Overall, steganography is used to maintain the secrecy of communication by hiding the very existence of the message.