The Media's Take on Steganography
Following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, many journalists and national security commentators speculated (perhaps prematurely) that al-Qaeda had used steganography, or steg, to communicate with one another and coordinate attacks. I’d like to explore this idea in subsequent blog posts. Several newspaper articles in the past eight years have investigated this theory, while many other journalists and subject matter experts have countered the idea.
USA TODAY: Terror groups hide behind Web encryption
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2001-02-05-binladen.htm
The USAToday article contains many logical leaps and stretches of the imagination. For example, it mentions Al-Qaeda’s purchase of computers with funds raised through charity.
“U.S. officials say bin Laden’s organization, al-Qaeda, uses money from Muslim sympathizers to purchase computers from stores or by mail.”
“All the Islamists and terrorist groups are now using the Internet to spread their messages.Hamas, Hezbollah and bin Laden’s groups have very sophisticated, well-educated people. Their technical equipment is good, and they have the bright, young minds to operate them.”
Smart people using the Internet and an interest in purchasing laptops do not indicate an understanding of steganography, or its widespread use to communicate covertly.
Furthermore, the evidence relied upon in the article comes from mid-level US officials commenting on the usefulness of steg as a tool and the possible effects of its adoption by organizations like. al-Qaeda.
This article and others like it make it difficult to determine if the US Government has concrete examples of the regular use of steg to facilitate terrorist activities or if it is just another possibility proposed by academics and cubicle dwellers at the NSA.
On a side note, this quote is a great example of journalism giving credence to alarmists and doomsayers in order to scare their audience:
“You very well could have a photograph and image with the time and information of an attack sitting on your computer, and you would never know it,” Venzke says. “It will look no different than a photograph exchanged between two friends or family members.”
This article makes it seem like al-Qaeda has stolen your family vacation photos and hidden the blueprints for their next attack inside them.