File Camouflage

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (November 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

File camouflage is a computer technique to hide secret information in a file.

Most of the file formats have some redundant portions where any confidential data could be inserted intentionally. For example, JPEG, MP3, and Microsoft Word files don't care whatever extra data are added at the end of the file. If such added data are encrypted, it is difficult for ordinary computer users to notice it.

File Camouflage (aka, File Deception) is a technique to hide confidential data by inserting it in such redundant part of a file. A camouflaged file works normally in an ordianary use.

File camouflaging uses two types of programs, i.e., an encoder to insert a confidential data, and a decoder to extract the inserted data, in combination with a secret key. A camouflaged file often becomes too lengthy, and it is not very hard for experts to detect and remove the inserted data. So, it is not very safe technique to hide confidential information in a computer. Some people^[who?] advocate that the file camouflage is a type of steganography, but most IT specialists exclude it from steganography.