Steganography is data hidden within data. Steganography is an encryption technique that can be used along with cryptography as an extra-secure method in which to protect data. Steganography techniques can be applied to images, a video file or an audio file. Steganography is the practice of concealing a file, message, image, or video within another file, message, image, or video. The first recorded use of the term was in 1499 by Johannes Trithemius in his Steganographia, a treatise on cryptography and steganography, disguised as a book on magic. The advantage of steganography over cryptography alone is that the intended secret message does not attract attention to itself as an object of scrutiny. Plainly visible encrypted messages, no matter how unbreakable they are, arouse interest and may in themselves be incriminating in countries in which encryption is illegal. Whereas cryptography is the practice of protecting the contents of a message alone, steganography is concerned both with concealing the fact that a secret message is being sent and its contents. Steganography includes the concealment of information within computer files. In digital steganography, electronic communications may include steganographic coding inside of a transport layer, such as a document file, image file, program or protocol.
Forensic analysis of video file formats
