Steganographic Computer Warfare

Computer technology permeates every aspect our daily operations. As this dependence increases, users become more susceptible to attacks. This threat comes largely from computer viruses, which fall under the Information Warfare domain. Steganography's goal is to conceal information, in plain sight. Although steganography tools have been around for several years, their true potential continues to be explored. This resurgence in steganography combined with the aforementioned computer virus threat raises potential risks. This research attempts to determine strategies that can be used automatically to decode a steganography file. Emphasis is placed on automated techniques and is not specific to any steganography application. The primary objective of this thesis is to explore and assess computer systems' vulnerability to steganographic virus attacks. The results indicate that steganography tools are not conducive to be sole attack weapons.