Comment by rhelz
1 year ago
Fascinating. I might have missed it, but I don't think the author mentioned the possibility of steganography. Just code the encrypted text such that it resembles a normal conversation.
1 year ago
Fascinating. I might have missed it, but I don't think the author mentioned the possibility of steganography. Just code the encrypted text such that it resembles a normal conversation.
Steganography is pointless given that encrypted and metadata protected communication is ubiquitously available to those who need it. Steganography is a niche you read about in your first year of studying the world of privacy and what you completely forget because nobody has time for spycraft when there's life to be lived. The novelty wears out faster than you can imagine.
Would you use an image for this? Is there a clever way to do this with text?
You could use an image. But you could use text as well. E.g. you could agree on a code phrase to be said when some "dirty deed done dirt cheap" has been completed. Or you could encode a binary string by alternating British English spellings with American English Spellings: e.g. "color" means 0, "colour" means 1; "gray" means 0, "grey" means 1, etc etc. and then just use those alternate spellings in a normal conversation.
The problem with codes is you have to remember them. And then you'll need a massive lookup-table. People don't want to have chats based on limited vocabulary.
This is why we have modern encryption. It converts the most beautiful poem in the world to complete noise and back with no loss of meaning. It allows sending images, books, videos -- culture, without spycraft that requires hours of learning. It's also more secure, given that humans aren't nearly as good at coming up with randomness and a computer's hardware RNG.
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