What is the practice of hiding a covert message within an overt message called?

What is the practice of hiding a covert message within an overt message called?

• A. Cryptography
• B. Steganography
• C. Obfuscation
• D. Watermarking

Answer: (B)

Steganography is the practice of hiding a covert message inside an overt message or medium. The goal is that the carrier looks ordinary while the secret payload is embedded within it, so the existence of the hidden communication goes unnoticed. Think of hiding data in the pixels of an image, in the bits of an audio file, or within the metadata of a document— tiny, imperceptible changes that encode information without drawing attention. This differs from cryptography, which focuses on transforming the message so it cannot be read without a key, but the act of encryption itself doesn’t conceal that a secret message is present. Obfuscation aims to make something difficult to understand or analyze, rather than to conceal a message inside another file. Watermarking embeds identifying information to prove ownership or track copies, not to secretly convey a message between two parties.

Steganography is the practice of hiding a covert message inside an overt message or medium. The goal is that the carrier looks ordinary while the secret payload is embedded within it, so the existence of the hidden communication goes unnoticed. Think of hiding data in the pixels of an image, in the bits of an audio file, or within the metadata of a document— tiny, imperceptible changes that encode information without drawing attention.

This differs from cryptography, which focuses on transforming the message so it cannot be read without a key, but the act of encryption itself doesn’t conceal that a secret message is present. Obfuscation aims to make something difficult to understand or analyze, rather than to conceal a message inside another file. Watermarking embeds identifying information to prove ownership or track copies, not to secretly convey a message between two parties.