Capacity is the wrong paradigm

  • Authors:
  • Ira S. Moskowitz;LiWu Chang;Richard E. Newman

  • Affiliations:
  • Center for High Assurance, Computer Systems-5540, Washington, DC;Center for High Assurance, Computer Systems-5540, Washington, DC;University of Florida, Gainesville, FL

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 2002 workshop on New security paradigms
  • Year:
  • 2002

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Abstract

At present, "capacity" is the prevailing paradigm for covert channels. With respect to steganography, however, capacity is at best insufficient, and at worst, is incorrect. In this paper, we propose a new paradigm called "capability" which gauges the effectiveness of a steganographic method. It includes payload carrying ability, detectability, and robustness components. We also discuss the use of zero-error capacity for channel analysis and demonstrate that a JPEG compressed image always has the potential to carry hidden information.