StegHash: New Method for Information Hiding in Open Social Networks
This addresses security vulnerabilities in social networks for users and platforms, but it is incremental as it builds on existing steganography concepts.
The authors tackled the problem of information hiding in open social networks by proposing StegHash, a method that uses hashtags to link multimedia files with embedded hidden messages, and experiments on Twitter and Instagram confirmed the idea's correctness, potentially creating new security threats.
In this paper a new method for information hiding in open social networks is introduced. The method, called StegHash, is based on the use of hashtags in various open social networks to connect multimedia files (like images, movies, songs) with embedded hidden messages. The evaluation of the system was performed on two social media services (Twitter and Instagram) with a simple environment as a proof of concept. The experiments proved that the initial idea was correct, thus the proposed system could create a completely new area of threats in social networks.