Steganography- A Data Hiding Technique

Steganography is the art of hiding information and an effort to conceal the existence of the embedded information. It serves as a better way of securing message than cryptography which only conceals the content of the message not the existence of the message. Original message is being hidden within a carrier such that the changes so occurred in the carrier are not observable. In this paper we will discuss how digital images can be used as a carrier to hide messages. This paper also analyses the performance of some of the steganography tools. Steganography is a useful tool that allows covert transmission of information over an over the communications channel. Combining secret image with the carrier image gives the hidden image. The hidden image is difficult to detect without retrieval. This paper will take an in-depth look at this technology by introducing the reader to various concepts of Steganography, a brief history of Steganography and a look at some of the Steganographic technique.