Data hiding techniques in Windows OS : a practical approach to investigation and defense / Nihad Ahmad Hassan, Rami Hijazi, Helvi Salminen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hassan, Nihad Ahmad, author.

Hijazi, Rami, author.

Salminen, Helvi, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Data protection.

Computer security.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (326 pages) : illustrations, tables

Edition:

1st edition

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam, [Netherlands] : Syngress, 2017.

System Details:

text file

Summary:

"This unique book delves down into the capabilities of hiding and obscuring data object within the Windows Operating System. However, one of the most noticeable and credible features of this publication is, it takes the reader from the very basics and background of data hiding techniques, and run’s on the reading-road to arrive at some of the more complex methodologies employed for concealing data object from the human eye and/or the investigation . As a practitioner in the Digital Age, I can see this book siting on the shelves of Cyber Security Professionals, and those working in the world of Digital Forensics – it is a recommended read, and is in my opinion a very valuable asset to those who are interested in the landscape of unknown unknowns . This is a book which may well help to discover more about that which is not in immediate view of the onlooker, and open up the mind to expand its imagination beyond its accepted limitations of known knowns ." - John Walker, CSIRT/SOC/Cyber Threat Intelligence Specialist Featured in Digital Forensics Magazine , February 2017 In the digital world, the need to protect online communications increase as the technology behind it evolves. There are many techniques currently available to encrypt and secure our communication channels. Data hiding techniques can take data confidentiality to a new level as we can hide our secret messages in ordinary, honest-looking data files. Steganography is the science of hiding data. It has several categorizations, and each type has its own techniques in hiding. Steganography has played a vital role in secret communication during wars since the dawn of history. In recent days, few computer users successfully manage to exploit their Windows® machine to conceal their private data. Businesses also have deep concerns about misusing data hiding techniques. Many employers are amazed at how easily their valuable information can get out of their company walls. In many legal cases a disgruntled employee would successfully steal company private data despite all security measures implemented using simple digital hiding techniques. Human right activists who live in countries controlled by oppressive regimes need ways to smuggle their online communications without attracting surveillance monitoring systems, continuously scan in/out internet traffic for interesting keywords and other artifacts. The same applies to journalists and whistleblowers all over the world. Computer forensic invest...

Contents:

Front Cover

Data Hiding Techniques in Windows OS

Data Hiding Techniques in Windows OS: A Practical Approach to Investigation and Defense

Copyright

Dedication

Contents

Biography

Preface

ABOUT THIS BOOK

TARGET AUDIENCE

SUMMARY OF CONTENTS

COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS

Acknowledgments

1 - Introduction and Historical Background

INTRODUCTION

CLASSICAL CIPHER TYPES

Substitution Cipher

Monoalphabetic Ciphers

Caesar Shift

Atbash Cipher

Keyword Cipher

Polyalphabetic Ciphers

Vigenère Cipher

AutoKey Cipher

Polygraphic Ciphers

Playfair Cipher

Mechanical Substitution Ciphers

The Enigma Machine

Transposition Cipher

Rail Fence

Columnar Transposition

Double Transposition

Other Ciphers and Codes

The One-Time Pad

Morse Code

Book Cipher

Difference Between Substitution and Transposition Cipher

Practicing Old Ciphers Using Modern Computing

MODERN CRYPTOGRAPHY SYSTEMS

Secret Key Cryptography

Public Key Cryptography

Digital Signature

Cryptographic Hash Function

STEGANOGRAPHY

What Is Steganography?

Comparing Steganography and Cryptography

Steganography Types

Technical Steganography

Invisible Ink

Microdots

Linguistic Steganography

Semagrams

Open Codes

Use a set of rules to hide a secret message in an open carrier, like reading the second letter of every word. A famous example o...

Grille cipher was invented by Gerolamo Cardano. Grilles are a kind of transposition cipher that can also include aspects of steg...

Digital Steganography

Steganography Protocols Types

Steganography Types According to Host File Type

Digital Steganography Techniques

WATERMARKING

Watermarking Types

Visible Watermark

Invisible Watermark

Compare Steganography and Watermarking

ANONYMITY

SUMMARY

REFERENCES.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

2 - Data Hiding Using Simple Methods

BIT-SHIFTING DATA HIDING

HIDING DATA INSIDE RICH TEXT FORMAT DOCUMENTS

RENAMING FILES

Matching File Signatures and File Extensions

HIDING DATA IN COMPRESSED FILES

HIDING DATA THROUGH FILE SPLITTING

HIDING DATA IN MICROSOFT® OFFICE DOCUMENTS

Hidden Text

Hidden Data Within Document Attributes (Metadata)

White Font

Hiding Data by Exploiting OLE Structured Storage

Self-Encrypt MS Office® Document

Hiding Inside MS Excel® Spreadsheet

DATA HIDING INSIDE IMAGE ATTRIBUTES (IMAGE METADATA)

REFERENCES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

3 - Data Hiding Using Steganographic Techniques

TEXT STEGANOGRAPHY

Format-Based Steganography

Line-Shift Coding

Word-Shift Coding

Character Coding

White Space Manipulation

Hiding Text Within Text

Random and Statistical Generation

Data Hiding Inside Spam Messages

Linguistic-Based Methods

Synonyms

Acronym

Change of Spelling

Hiding Inside MS Office® Documents Based on OOXML File Format

Understanding Package Relationships

Data Hiding Inside OOXML Document Structure

Important Notes Regarding This Method

Data Hiding in the Zipped Container Comments Field

Data Hiding by Reducing Image and Chart Dimensions

Data Hiding Through Image Cropping

Data Hiding Using OOXML Replacement Images Feature

Data Hiding Using XML Comments

Data Hiding Using OOXML Markup Compatibility and Extensibility Feature

What Is Markup Compatibility and Extensibility?

Additional Methods for Data Hiding by Exploiting Other OOXML Features

Webpage Text Steganography

Hiding Data Using HTML5 Tags

Hiding Data in HTML/XML Files Using Tag Attributes

Hiding Data in HTML Files by Modifying Attribute Written State.

Hiding Data in HTML by Exploiting Whitespaces Using the SNOW Program

Hiding Secret Messages Inside Twitter Updates

IMAGE STEGANOGRAPHY

Digital Image Basic Concepts

What Is a Pixel?

What Is Bit Depth?

Monitor Resolution

Graphic File Types

Bitmap and Raster Graphics

Vector Graphics

Metafile Graphics

Image Compression Types

Lossy

Lossless

Graphics Files Format

JPEG

TIFF

GIF

PNG

Raw Image Files

BMP

Features Comparison

Image Steganographic Techniques

Image Domain

Least Significant Bit Substitution Using Bitmap Image

Least Significant Bit Using Palette-Based Images

Transform Domain

JPEG Compression

JPEG Steganography

Hiding After the End-of-File Marker

Hiding Zip Files Inside an Image

Hiding Inside Image Metadata

Digital Media Steganography Tools

DATA HIDING INSIDE AUDIO FILES

Audio Files Basic Concepts

Analog Signal

Digital Signal

How Digital Sampling Works

Audio File Format Types

Uncompressed Format

Lossless Compressed Format

Lossy Compressed Format

Common Audio File Types

WAV/AIFF

FLAC, ALAC, APE

MP3/WMA

Audio Steganography Types

Least Significant Bit Encoding Encoding

Parity Coding

Phase Coding

Spread Spectrum

Echo Hiding

Data Hiding Inside Video Files

Characteristics of Video Files

Some Terms Associated With Video Files

DATA HIDING USING OTHER DIGITAL MEDIA TYPES

Data Hiding Inside PDF Documents

PDF Structure

Change Formatting

Embedding Objects Inside a PDF File

Advanced Techniques

Data Hiding Inside Program Binaries

4 - Data Hiding Under Windows® OS File Structure

DATA HIDING USING ALTERNATE DATA STREAM

What Is the New Technology File System?

What Is an Alternate Data Stream?.

How Can We Use Alternate Data Streams to Hide Files?

Hiding Executable Code in Alternate Data Stream Files

Important Notes About Using Alternate Data Stream in Hiding Files

How to Delete Alternate Data Stream Files

Method 1

Method 2

Detecting Alternate Data Stream Files

LADS

Streams.exe From SysInternals

DATA HIDING USING STEALTH ALTERNATE DATA STREAM

HIDING DATA INSIDE WINDOWS® RESTORATION POINTS

HIDING DATA INSIDE WINDOWS® REGISTRY

HIDING IN A FILE'S SLACK SPACE

Understanding Hard Disk Drives

File Allocation Table

Restoring the Hidden File

How Much Data Can I Hide in a File Slack Space?

HIDDEN PARTITIONS

Hidden Partitions Under Windows® OS

Creating a Hidden Partition Within a USB Zip Drive

Uncovering Hidden Partitions

DATA HIDING WITHIN MASTER FILE TABLE

DATA HIDING IN DISK BAD BLOCKS

DATA HIDING UNDER COMPUTER HARDWARE LEVEL

Data Hiding Inside Host Protected Area

How Does Host Protected Area Work? [26]

Hiding Data in Device Configuration Overlay

5 - Data Hiding Using Encryption Techniques

SECURITY AWARENESS CORNERS

Human Security

Device Security

Message Security

Network Security

ANONYMOUS OPERATING SYSTEM

Tails

What Is the TOR Network?

Ubuntu Privacy Remix

Other Security Distributions

Advice When Using Security Operating Systems

Portable Stick Computer

DISK ENCRYPTION

Encrypting Partitions Using BitLocker

Data Drive Disk Encryption

Windows Partition Encryption

Creating Encrypted Vaults

Create a Simple Encrypted Volume Using VeraCrypt

How Do We Open a Normal VeraCrypt Volume?

Install Virtual Machine OS Within a Hidden VeraCrypt Container

Create the Hidden Volume

Create a Portable Version of VirtualBox

Install Tails Inside Hidden VeraCrypt Volume.

Practical Notes When Using Hidden Volume

Single File Encryption

AES Crypt

File Archive Encryption Using PeaZip

Cloud Storage Encryption

Using CryptSync for Cloud Storage Encryption

Discussion of Security Level in Disk Encryption

Attacking Full Disk Encryption

Countermeasures Against Full Disk Encryption Attacks

ANONYMIZE YOUR LOCATION ONLINE

Using the TOR Browser

TOR Browser

What Is Dark Web?

Warnings When Using the TOR Network

Virtual Private Networks

SSH Tunneling

Using Proxy Server

Web Proxy Types

Security Risks Associated With Proxy Servers

Anonymous Search Engine

StartPage

DUCKDUCKGO

DISCONNECT SEARCH

Web Browser Privacy Add-Ons

Check Browser Fingerprint

BrowserLeaks.com (https://www.browserleaks.com)

Panopticlick (https://panopticlick.eff.org)

Mozilla Firefox Privacy Add-Ons

HTTPS Everywhere

Disconnect

Privacy Badger

Self-Destructing Cookies

uBlock Origin

Random Agent Spoofer

Secure Anonymous File Sharing

OnionShare

ENCRYPTING EMAIL COMMUNICATIONS

Email Encryption Using Gpg4Win

Public and Private Key Concept in Encryption

What Is a Digital Signature Concept?

Create PGP Keypair Certificate

Prerequisites to Send and Receive Encrypted Emails Using Gpg4win

Encrypting Emails in MS Outlook® Using the GpG4win Component (GpgOL)

How to Decrypt an Encrypted Message Sent to You

Making Sure You Are Talking With the Correct Person

Open PGP Encryption for Webmail Using the Mailvelope Browser Extension

Secure Web Mail Providers

ProtonMail

GhostMail

ENCRYPT INSTANT MESSAGING, VIDEO CALLS, AND VOIP SESSIONS

What Are the Risks?

Off-the-Record-Messaging and Pidgin

Generating Our Private Key

Practice Using OTR by Initiating a Secure Chat Session

Authenticate the Identity of Your Contacts.

A Secure Video Calling Service Using Gruveo.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references at the end of each chapters and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed September 20, 2016).

ISBN:

9780128044490

0128044497

9780128044964

0128044969

OCLC:

960211534