I like your analysis and explanation. Very well written and thoughtout.
It is easy to come up with encryption methods that are virtually impossible to break and detect..
That is why I feel that the terrorist Network, that has been attacking us and our allies for the last 10 or so years, are using this particular method.. (and probably among others)..
Steganography hides the existence of messages, whereas cryptography deals with hiding the contents of messages. A steganography program (like steghide for example) embeds the file that contains the message you want to hide in another file, for example in an image or sound file. The most secure technique to use steganography is to use it together with cryptography. That means you encrypt the message and hide it in a file afterwards.
Depending on the method used to hide or encrypt messages, there are things that good and bad things depending on the method.
For example, your method mentioned, the "Pen and Paper", is and has been used for years (Decades) and it's good Points is that it is almost impossible to detect, unless the message itself is physically intercepted.. The bad points is that since it is a physical item, it must be handcarried, and that means access to Transportation and delivery systems that can be detected and intercepted.
What makes a good secret communication channel is one that no-one can either detect, and no-one has the ability to "Filter" out the encoded messages. For Example, the US has some highly sophisicated crypto equipment to hide and disguise the communication. They involve the use of either one use codes, or daily codes that are imputed using paper strips with holes in them and can be destroyed easily and quickly. The only problem with this is that the fact that the communication IS encrypted makes it a target for hostile or "nosey" people or agencies who will then target those lines of communication because they know that is where the information they want is located. We used to Joke about in the AF that it was almost more secure to use an open and unsecure line because since there are so many of them, it would be more secure because it would be lost in the jungle of "Common Messages"..
A good example of this took place durning WWII with the Battle of Midway. Naval Intelligance was able to track Japanese Incrypted communications and decode their messages, but about 1 or 2 months before the battle, the Japanese changed their codes, and the "Codebreakers" were not able to decypher their communications and were at a loss to their plans. But they had gotten some information that the Island of Midway would be a target, but they were not able to confirm that "Objective AF" was indeed midway and not some other place. So a Message was incrypted and sent over the secure lines that "Midway's Fresh Water Condensers were offline".. and since the US knew that their codes were compromised, when they intercepted a message that "AF's fresh Water Condensers were offline", American Intelligance knew that Midway was the target and not the western coast of the US. They were able to then Position our Carriers for the Battle and not send them to protect the west coast, and we won the battle. BUT the messages to the commander on Midway to prepare for the attack was NOT sent over the secure comm lines, but over unsecure open lines thru normal everyday traffic because Naval intelligance knew the Japanese did not have the capability to monitor ALL of them because there was just too much.
So basically, here you have the best of two world. You have an encrypted system and a system that is available to everyone but is so massive that no-one has the resources to monitor them all. Which is more secure.. Neither, BUT if you can incorporate BOTH Systems, then you will have a Highly secure system that can be easily accessed by the Intended person, but is "Under the Nose's" of everyone so much that they don't realize that they have in their hands messages and "Dead-Drops" that have information that could have saved thousands of people, but because it was hidden nobody realized what it was.
Which is more secure.. A piece of paper hidden under a rock near a stream? or a piece of paper slipped between a couple of pages of a book sitting on a shelf in a Library?
The Library Book is more secure.....
Since about 1995, it has been reported that Al-Quiada has been using steganography to keep it's network of terrorist informed, and to coordinate attacks. There are several methods to do this.. One method is to use SPAM e-mail for the message. Would you actually read this message? :
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Dear Friend ; Thank-you for your interest in our publication
. If you no longer wish to receive our publications
simply reply with a Subject: of "REMOVE" and you will
immediately be removed from our club ! This mail is
being sent in compliance with Senate bill 1627 ; Title
6 , Section 303 ! Do NOT confuse us with Internet scam
artists . Why work for somebody else when you can become
rich within 96 weeks . Have you ever noticed more people
than ever are surfing the web and the baby boomers
are more demanding than their parents ! Well, now is
your chance to capitalize on this . We will help you
deliver goods right to the customer's doorstep and
use credit cards on your website ! The best thing about
our system is that it is absolutely risk free for you
! But don't believe us ! Prof Simpson who resides in
New Mexico tried us and says "Now I'm rich, Rich, RICH"
! We are a BBB member in good standing ! If not for
you then for your loved ones - act now . Sign up a
friend and your friend will be rich too . Thanks !
Dear Friend ; Thank-you for your interest in our letter
. If you are not interested in our publications and
wish to be removed from our lists, simply do NOT respond
and ignore this mail ! This mail is being sent in compliance
with Senate bill 1622 ; Title 6 ; Section 305 . This
is NOT unsolicited bulk mail ! Why work for somebody
else when you can become rich within 88 days ! Have
you ever noticed how many people you know are on the
Internet plus how many people you know are on the Internet
! Well, now is your chance to capitalize on this .
WE will help YOU turn your business into an E-BUSINESS
plus use credit cards on your website ! You can begin
at absolutely no cost to you ! But don't believe us
. Ms Simpson who resides in Colorado tried us and says
"My only problem now is where to park all my cars"
. This offer is 100% legal ! Because the Internet operates
on "Internet time" you must act now . Sign up a friend
and your friend will be rich too ! Best regards ! Dear
Salaryman , Your email address has been submitted to
us indicating your interest in our briefing . We will
comply with all removal requests ! This mail is being
sent in compliance with Senate bill 1625 ; Title 2
; Section 305 . This is a ligitimate business proposal
. Why work for somebody else when you can become rich
in 72 WEEKS ! Have you ever noticed most everyone has
a cellphone & people are much more likely to BUY with
a credit card than cash ! Well, now is your chance
to capitalize on this ! WE will help YOU process your
orders within seconds and SELL MORE ! The best thing
about our system is that it is absolutely risk free
for you ! But don't believe us ! Prof Ames of Illinois
tried us and says "I was skeptical but it worked for
me" ! This offer is 100% legal . Do not go to sleep
without ordering ! Sign up a friend and you get half
off . Thank-you for your serious consideration of our
offer ! Dear Friend , This letter was specially selected
to be sent to you . We will comply with all removal
requests ! This mail is being sent in compliance with
Senate bill 1624 , Title 9 ; Section 309 . This is
not a get rich scheme ! Why work for somebody else
when you can become rich as few as 16 weeks . Have
you ever noticed nearly every commercial on television
has a .com on in it and people love convenience ! Well,
now is your chance to capitalize on this . We will
help you decrease perceived waiting time by 120% plus
use credit cards on your website . You can begin at
absolutely no cost to you . But don't believe us !
Mr Ames who resides in Nebraska tried us and says "Now
I'm rich, Rich, RICH" . We are licensed to operate
in all states ! For the sake of your family order now
! Sign up a friend and you get half off . Thank-you
for your serious consideration of our offer !
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Inside the above SPAM is a hidden message. Copy and Paste the above message to this
Webpage to decode the message.
If you Look Closly at the above message, you will notice something strange, there are some extra spaces between some words and punctuation marks, some extra marks, and some of the grammer is wierd.. all of these are used to encrypt the evil message is have encoded inside it.
This message could be posted to a mailing list that is used to Spam everyone in the world, (The CD's are easy to get ahold of and you can then add the e-mail address's of the people you NEED to contact to the list for this example, let us say 5 cell leader's e-mail address are added to the mailing list.) and not only will over 50 million people get this message, but also those 5 people who need to read it. Out of the 50 million, 50 million minus 5 will trash the message. and the 5 will be able to read the message and get their orders. All within a few minutes of it being sent to the mastermind, and all completly secure.
This is only one way these evil people may have communicated. And it does not take a math genius to do it.. Or any fancy software.. The example above takes a person who has access to the web, and the ability to Copy and Paste, and it takes about 5 seconds to encode/decode the message. And I am not a Math Genius, but I was able to create a message that people would throw out without thinking about it, but to the right people, it would be able to kill over 5000 people.
So that is why I pretty much posted this Article.. Here on Free Republic are people dedicated to Protecting and Defending the US Constitution from enemies, both foreign and Domestic. We have here the resources and the brainpower to begin, in our small way, to help defend our way of life and to protect our Country.
Here on Free Republic are thousand of people who research alot of websites, get lots of e-mail, and, well, like to surf.. We can help our country by keeping a lookout for these type of messages, look for Jpegs, wav's, MP3's, gif's, bmp's, etc.. etc.. and if we find any with hidden messages, we forward them to the
FBI.
Alot of us served our country by wearing a uniform, now we are too old to serve, BUT we do know how to use our computers, and we can serve our Nation by helping to root out the Terrorist Network that attacked our Nation by keeping an eye out and trying to decrypt their communication network.
That is why I posted this Article here..