New Project Website and a Generic Taxonomy

This website has moved to https://patterns.omi.uni-ulm.de/.

We are very pleased to tell that the fundamentally revised version of the patterns-based taxonomy for steganography is now available on the new project website. A pre-print can be found here: https://doi.org/10.36227/techrxiv.20215373. The new taxonomy also incorporates the network-level hiding patterns from this website. Additionally, the new pre-print incorporates a revised version of the unified description method.

Two new publications and a new pattern

An upcoming publication [1] proposes a new pattern that exploits artificial reconnections. We already added it to the website as PT15 Artificial Reconnections.

• Aleksandra Mileva, Aleksandar Velinov, Laura Hartmann, Steffen Wendzel, Wojciech Mazurczyk: Comprehensive Analysis of MQTT 5.0 Susceptibility to Network Covert Channels, Computers & Security, Elsevier, 2021. 
  

Moreover, my (Steffen's) habilitation thesis is now available, its core topic are hiding patterns:

• Steffen Wendzel: Network Information Hiding: Terminology, Taxonomy, Methodology and Countermeasures (PDF), Habilitation Thesis, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Unversity of Hagen, submitted in Nov. 2019, colloquiums passed in Nov. 2020.

(links updated on Feb, 2nd)

Information Hiding + Science 2.0

In a new paper, we discuss how Information Hiding can be combined with Science 2.0/Open Science.

Steffen Wendzel, Luca Caviglione, Wojciech Mazurczyk, Jean-Francois Lalande:
Network Information Hiding and Science 2.0: Can it be a Match?,
Int. Journal of Electronics and Telecommunications, Vol. 63(2), pp. 217-222, 2017.

Abstract:
Science 2.0 aims at using the information sharing and collaborative features of the Internet to offer new features to the research community. Science 2.0 has been already applied to computer sciences, especially bioinformatics. For network information hiding, a field studying the possibility of concealing a communication in networks, the application of Science 2.0 is still a rather uncovered territory. To foster the discussion of potential benefits for network information hiding, we provide a disquisition for six different Science 2.0 aspects when applied to this domain.

PDF Download: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316215336_Network_Information_Hiding_and_Science_20_Can_it_be_a_Match [accessed May 26, 2017].

This project is now also on ResearchGate

We performed some tiny updates on the content to provide a better explanation of our approach.

Another update is that you can now follow our project on ResearchGate. (All information is also and primarily available on this website, i.e. following our blog will provide you with at least the same information as you will get on ResearchGate.)

New Publication: Unified Description for Network Information Hiding Methods

We published a new paper related to network information hiding patterns. This time, we provide a way for a unified description of hiding methods (hiding techniques). In other words: if a new hiding technique must be described in a scientific paper, so that it can be published, we propose a clear structure for the description of the new technique.

S. Wendzel, W. Mazurczyk, S. Zander: Unified Description for Network Information Hiding Methods, Journal of Universal Computer Science (J.UCS), Vol. 22(11), 2016.

Abstract:
Until now hiding methods in network steganography have been described in arbitrary ways, making them difficult to compare. For instance, some publications describe classical channel characteristics, such as robustness and bandwidth, while others describe the embedding of hidden information. We introduce the first unified description of hiding methods in network steganography. Our description method is based on a comprehensive analysis of the existing publications in the domain. When our description method is applied by the research community, future publications will be easier to categorize, compare and extend. Our method can also serve as a basis to evaluate the novelty of hiding methods proposed in the future.

Keywords: covert channels, design patterns, information hiding, network security, scientific methodology, scientific pratice, steganography

You can download the full-text here (open access).

How Patterns Support the Novelty Evaluation of Research

The research discipline of network steganography deals with the hiding of information within network transmissions, e.g. to transfer illicit information in networks with Internet censorship.

The last decades of research on network steganography led to more than hundred techniques for hiding data in network transmissions. However, previous research has shown that most of these hiding techniques are either based on the same idea or introduce limited novelty, enabling the application of existing countermeasures.

In a new paper, Steffen Wendzel and Carolin Palmer provide a link between the field of creativity and network steganographic research. We propose a framework and a metric to help evaluating the creativity bound to a given hiding technique. This way, we support two sides of the scientific peer review process as both authors and reviewers can use our framework to analyze the novelty and applicability of hiding techniques. At the same time, we contribute to a uniform terminology in network steganography.

Publication:
S. Wendzel, C. Palmer: Creativity in Mind: Evaluating and Maintaining Advances in Network Steganographic Research, in: Journal of Universal Computer Science (J.UCS), Vol. 21, No. 12, pp. 1684--1705, 2015.