Micro protocol engineering for unstructured carriers: On the embedding of steganographic control protocols into audio transmissions
This work addresses the need for secure and reliable covert communication in audio transmissions, but it appears incremental as it builds on existing micro protocol concepts.
The paper tackles the problem of embedding hidden communication channels with micro protocols into digitized audio signals for network steganography, comparing different design approaches based on experimental results and integrating them into a protocol engineering framework.
Network steganography conceals the transfer of sensitive information within unobtrusive data in computer networks. So-called micro protocols are communication protocols placed within the payload of a network steganographic transfer. They enrich this transfer with features such as reliability, dynamic overlay routing, or performance optimization --- just to mention a few. We present different design approaches for the embedding of hidden channels with micro protocols in digitized audio signals under consideration of different requirements. On the basis of experimental results, our design approaches are compared, and introduced into a protocol engineering approach for micro protocols.