| | |  | Computer Security | Home » » Hiding in Plain Sight: Steganography and the Art of Covert Communication | | | | | | | Description: | | - Explains exactly what steganography is-hiding a message inside an innocuous picture or music file-and how it has become a popular tool for secretly sending and receiving messages for both the good guys and the bad guys
- First book to describe international terrorists' cybersecurity tool of choice in an accessible language
- Author is a top security consultant for the CIA and provides gripping stories that show how steganography works
- Appendix provides tools to help people detect and counteract stenanography
| | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Eric Cole | | Paperback:
| 360 pages | | Publisher:
| Wiley | | Publication Date:
| April 11, 2003 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 0471444499 | | Package Length:
| 9.22 inches | | Package Width:
| 7.38 inches | | Package Height:
| 0.78 inches | | Package Weight:
| 1.19 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 12 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 12 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 8 found the following review helpful:
Good, but basic, and the editor should be fired.Dec 24, 2004
By M. Karapcik
"Mike"
The information is quite good, though not very in depth. The examples are good, as they explain, "See, this really *can* be used in 'real life'." There is also some programming information, so for some parts (nothing critical, just program design), a knowledge of C is useful. Personally, this is my first book on steganography, so the technicality of the information was at a good level (informative, but not buried in jargon or advanced math). I have no programming background, but skipping the program designs was not a detriment in any way.
However... I think the editor should be bludgeoned once or twice with something heavy. I have written some documentation, and the editor did things that I know never to do. First, there are a few grammatical errors, which cause serious problems if you are not paying attention. (In one example, it is said the user (I don't have the book in front of me) "attaches her private PGP key, encrypts it with [the other's] public PGP key, and sends the email". This is after saying many times "NEVER EVER SHARE YOUR PRIVATE PGP KEY!!!". Then, the example goes on to say the recipient "uses the public PGP key, which is attached...". (The first sentence should have read "public PGP key"). In addition to one or two other situations like this, there is also an issue with the inline images. They all appear only at the top and bottom of the page, while the author clearly intends for some to be in paragraphs. The author says things like "as seen in this image:", but the sentence continues, and "this image", the number of which is not given, is elsewhere on the page. Further, many images have the eight resize anchor points and thick border visible from screen shots; these should have been Photoshop'ed out (it's not that hard, I've done it with Paintbrush).
If you are looking for advanced work, skip this. For a basic work, I would give it five stars, but the editors errors are so bad....
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 Great combination of technical detail & backgroundNov 11, 2003
This book does an outstanding job of combining both technical details and background to create a very interesting read. It's not dry like most of the other books on this subject, and I truly enjoyed reading it. The author does a great job incorporating analogies and explainations to demonstrate "practical" applications. I would highly recommend this book to anyone that is either new to the subject, or would like a refresher to expand their knowledge of the subject (like myself).
4 of 5 found the following review helpful:
Discover The Art of Hiding DataFeb 10, 2005
By sixmonkeyjungle
Not knowing much other than the definition of steganography before opening this book I found it very easy to read and very informative.
Eric Cole has a background in working with hidden data and his experience is translated into a book that even users new to the concepts of covert communication can understand. The fictionalized stories of actual events help the reader to understand how these tools are used every day by both the good guys and the bad guys.
The book covers a basic history and background of cryptography and digital watermarking as well as steganography and then gets into more detail about the techniques and concepts of "stego". It does provide source code, but may not be "meaty" enough for steganography experts.
(...)
4 of 6 found the following review helpful:
ExcellentNov 12, 2003
By berg
I thought that this book was excellent. Normally I highlight specific parts of a book, but this book had so much good information I found my self needing to highlight nearly everything that I read. This book unlike most technical books that i have read in the past makes me want to continue reading, because right away you learn something new. I happen to think that stegonography and cryptography are two extremely interesting subjects. I could tell that the author was also very passionate about the subjects, wich made me even more interested in what i was reading. I reccommend this book to anyone interested in stego and cryptography.
 Silly editing mistakes and empty information.Sep 01, 2004
By Nick Veys
Call me silly for expecting more from this. This book rollercoasters from the wildly vague overview to the distractingly specific detail and back again. The author shows promise in writing style but the editing needs some work. Typos and silly mistakes like the majority of the second half of the book's images appear taken from a Word document (or similar) while selected (border, drag handles overlayed) and LOTS of white space.
And how useful is 80 pages of printed source code? The CD is included, just save the trees and my shelf space please.
The author is a seemingly public figure (TV show appearances, etc) so I guess you can only expect so much.
If you're looking for meat on the topic, don't bother. If you want a basic overview in a weekend read, go for it.
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