Chandramouli to investigate technology for identification of digital "hidden communications" through Air Force-funded research

Dr. Rajarathnam Chandramouli, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology, is the principal investigator for a US Air Force Research Laboratory-funded project exploring technology to identify and isolate digital "hidden communications," involving a new field known as "steganography." The collective techniques for detecting and recovering messages from covert communications using steganography are called "steganalysis." New York Polytechnic University will collaborate with Chandramouli in this project.

Steganography is becoming a popular area of research and development for applications such as hidden communications and digital watermarking for authentication. Techniques such as hiding information in plain-looking digital images and video may in fact prove to be a major security threat in the future. Therefore, basic research and development of tools that can predict, warn, or produce counter-attacks against such security risks in a timely fashion are becoming increasingly valuable.

"Steganalysis is the art and science of investigating digital media for hidden information with little or no a priori information," says Chandramouli. "The small number of steganalysis techniques that currently exist cleverly manipulate and tune algorithms specific to a given data type, such as image or video. One major drawback of these approaches is that they are highly data dependent.

"For example," he continues, "if the type of digital image under investigation changes (say, from jpeg to bmp), then these algorithms may have to be tuned all over again. Also, these techniques are not provably optimal."

Most current steganography research and development efforts focus on improving features such as robustness against attacks, transparency, and payload. But, says Chandramouli, robust steganography or watermarking also implies that it is easier for a steganalyst either to estimate and remove or detect the presence of hidden information. Therefore, it is important to study the vulnerabilities of steganography techniques using steganalysis methods and propose improvements and counter-measures.

To achieve this goal, Chandramouli believes that provably optimal steganalysis techniques that guarantee performance metrics, such as false alarm and detection probability, may be necessary. Developing steganalysis algorithms that optimize themselves depending on the media under investigation is one of the main objectives. Another key problem that will be addressed is the development of a formal mathematical theory to compute "steganography capacity," which is a measure of the length of a secret message (in bits) that can be hidden without being detected by a steganalyst.

Given the national security implications, Chandramouli's research promises dividends beyond the realm of pure science.

About Stevens Institute of Technology

Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.

Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.  

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