Security

Researchers have demonstrated a new way to hide secret messages in internet traffic that can elude even vigilant network operators. The process is a network application of steganography, which is the ancient science and art of hiding messages in documents, pictures and other media in a way that can be easily detected by the intended recipient, but not by third parties. The researchers from the Warsaw University of Technology have found a way to apply the principle to network traffic by exploiting design weaknesses in TCP, or transmission control protocol. Popular Whitepapers RSTEG, short for Retransmission Steganography, works by manipulating the back-and-forth sequence and messages exchanged each time an internet packet is sent. Typically, a computer on the receiving end sends a confirmation each time one is successfully transmitted. RSTEG works by deliberately withholding the acknowledgment, which then prompts the packet to be resent.

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