

Steganographia was a clever book that was purportedly about magic and the occult, but used cryptography and steganography to hide its real subject matter, which centered around cryptography and steganography. The word combined the Greek steganos, which means concealed, with graphein, which means writing. The term steganography was first used in a book called Steganographia by Johannes Trithemius. His recipe used gall nuts to write text and a copper sulfate solution to reveal it. Philo of Byzantium was the first to discuss invisible inks, writing about them in the third century BC. In the 4th century BC, Aeneas Tacticus made mention of a hole punching technique. It wasn’t long before more sophisticated forms of steganography were recorded. Herodotus is known for his tall tales, so we can’t be sure of how truthful these stories are, but they’re the earliest records of steganography we have. Hidden beneath the wax was a message that warned the Spartans of Xerxes’ planned invasion. Herodotus tells another story about steganography that occurred several years later, when the Spartan king Demaratus sent a seemingly blank wax tablet back to Sparta. The concealed text told him to rise up against the Persian rule, which kicked-off the uprising against their conquerors. Histiaeus then waited for the slave’s hair to grow back and hide the message, then sent him to Aristagoras with instructions to shave the slave’s head once more and read the message. This is where the steganography comes in: He shaved the head of one of his slaves and tattooed a message on his scalp.

He wanted to go back to Miletus, which was under the control of his son-in-law, Aristagoras, so he planned to stage a revolt in Ionia as a pretext for his return. Histiaeus, the ruler of Miletus was away from his city, acting as an adviser to the Persian king. He writes that it happened during the Ionian Revolt, an uprising of some Greek cities against Persian rule at around 500 BC. The first written case of steganography is found in Histories by Herodotus. It can be done either physically or digitally, with techniques ranging from blinking in Morse code to hiding data in. To put it simply, steganography is the study and practice of concealing information. So let’s jump in and discuss what steganography is, the history behind it, how it differs from cryptography, its major use cases, and how it can be detected. It may not be as popular as its older brother cryptography, but steganography still has important applications. From its humble origins that involved physically hiding communications and using invisible inks, it has now moved into the digital realm, allowing people to slip critical information into seemingly mundane files. Steganography is an ancient practice that involves hiding messages and data.
