[info] the physics arXiv blog

[Eugen Leitl]

----- Forwarded message from the physics arXiv blog <howdy at arxivblog.com> -----

From: the physics arXiv blog <howdy at arxivblog.com>
Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 12:37:38 -0500 (CDT)
To: eugen at leitl.org
Subject: the physics arXiv blog
Reply-To: the physics arXiv blog <howdy at arxivblog.com>


[1]the physics arXiv blog

   [2]VoIP threatened by steganographic attack

   Posted: 30 May 2008 12:06 AM CDT

   [3]VoIP steganography 

   Steganography is the art of hiding message when they are sent, in a
   process akin to camouflage. In cryptography, on the other hand, no
   attempt is made to hide the message, only to conceal its content.

   Today, Wojciech Mazurczyk and Krzysztof Szczypiorski of the Warsaw
   University of Technology in Poland explain how VoIP services are wide
   open to steganographic attack and even measure how much information
   can be sent covertly in this way.

   VoIP services such as Skype are vulnerable to steganographic attack
   because they use such a high bandwidth and that makes it relatively
   easy to embed a hidden message in the bit stream in a way that it is
   almost impossible to detect.

   For precisely this reason, the US Department of Defence specifies in
   that any covert channel with a bandwidth higher than 100 bps must be
   considered insecure for average security requirements. For high
   security requirements, the DoD says the data rate should not exceed 1
   bps, making it next to impossible to embed a hidden code without it
   being noticed.

   So VoIP systems such as Skype, with their much higher data rates, are
   difficult to secure.

   And to prove it, Mazurczyk and Szczypiorski have tested a number of
   steganographic attacks (including two new ones they've developed
   themselves) on a VoIP system to determine how much data could be sent.
   They say that during an average call (that's 13 minutes long according
   to Skype) they were able to covertly transmit as much as 1.3 Mbits of
   data.

   That should get a number of governments, companies and individuals
   thinking. How secure is your VoIP system?

   Ref: [4]arxiv.org/abs/0805.2938: Steganography of VoIP streams

   [5][arXivblog?i=7GsWD8] 
   [6][arXivblog?i=6gCGgH] [7][arXivblog?i=llJkBH]
   [8][arXivblog?i=zgvvXh] [9][arXivblog?i=bfQyLH]
   [10][arXivblog?i=YOdUMh] [11][arXivblog?i=JHlz1H]
   [12][arXivblog?i=woJaOh] [13][arXivblog?i=5nGOIH] 
   You are subscribed to email updates from [14]the physics arXiv blog
   To stop receiving these emails, you may [15]unsubscribe now. Email
   Delivery powered by FeedBurner
   Inbox too full? [16](feed) [17]Subscribe to the feed version of the
   physics arXiv blog in a feed reader.
   If you prefer to unsubscribe via postal mail, write to: the physics
   arXiv blog, c/o FeedBurner, 20 W Kinzie, 9th Floor, Chicago IL USA
   60610

References

   1. http://arxivblog.com/
   2. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/arXivblog/~3/301012934/
   3. http://arxivblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/voip-steganography.jpg
   4. http://arxiv.org/abs/0805.2938
   5. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/arXivblog?a=7GsWD8
   6. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/arXivblog?a=6gCGgH
   7. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/arXivblog?a=llJkBH
   8. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/arXivblog?a=zgvvXh
   9. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/arXivblog?a=bfQyLH
  10. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/arXivblog?a=YOdUMh
  11. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/arXivblog?a=JHlz1H
  12. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/arXivblog?a=woJaOh
  13. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/arXivblog?a=5nGOIH
  14. http://arxivblog.com/
  15. http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/emailunsub?id=8632699&key=kesJ612ZsV
  16. http://feeds.feedburner.com/arXivblog
  17. http://feeds.feedburner.com/arXivblog

----- End forwarded message -----
-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
______________________________________________________________
ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org
8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A  7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE