Steganographic and Steganalytic Methods for Timing Channels with Side Information

具有辅助信息的定时通道的隐写术和隐写分析方法

• 批准号: 0830776
• 负责人: Pierre Moulin
• 金额: $ 43.54万
• 依托单位: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-08-01 至 2011-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0830776&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Steganographic; Steganalytic; Methods; Timing; Channels

Steganographic and Steganalytic Methodsfor Timing Channels with Side InformationThis proposal addresses dual problems of steganography (design ofcoding techniques for covert communications) and steganalysis(design of statistical methods for detection of covert communications)applied to timing channels on asynchronous networks. Hidden messagesare embedded by modulating the timings of a cover packet stream(e.g., SSH file transfer data; keystroke data for instant messagingor other interactive session) which plays the role of side informationfor the encoder. The encoder is also subject to causality and latency constraints.Hence the objective of this research is to construct and analyze novel methodsfor covert communications over timing channels with side information,as well as novel methods for detecting them.The project is organized around four research thrusts:1) Develop mathematical formulations and research the information-theoretic limits of timing codes with side information. The problem formulation includes a statistical model for the input packet process (e.g., a renewal process, or a Markov process), steganographic constraints (to guarantee statistical undetectability of the embedded messages), causality constraints, and latency constraints.2) Develop and analyze a family of practical codes that satisfy the above constraints. These codes are nonlinear and stochastic (they inject an optimized amount of ``noise'' via a queue) and we refer to them as queue-based steganographic codes.3) Develop an efficient computational framework for optimizing information-theoretic functionals associated with queueing processes.4) Construct a steganalysis learning machine (based on empirical data and various timing codes) which returns a binary decision about the presence of hidden data.Broad Impact and Intellectual Merit:This project is highly multidisciplinary and involves a synergy betweenresearch and educational activities in random processes, communications,coding, queueing theory, information theory, statistics, and learningtheory. The project addresses fundamental questions with applicationsto information protection and cybersecurity.Other impact includes computational methods for queueing processs,steganographic methods for signal processing and other timing channels, etc.Many graduate students are interested in moving into such anattractive research area, which combines breadth and strong emphasison fundamentals with practical relevance. We intend to train thesestudents for leadership roles in information technology.

隐写和隐写分析方法的定时信道与边信息这一建议解决双重问题的隐写（设计的编码技术的隐蔽通信）和隐写分析（设计的统计方法检测的隐蔽通信）应用于异步网络上的定时信道。通过调制覆盖分组流的定时来嵌入隐藏消息（例如，SSH文件传输数据;用于即时消息或其他交互式会话的加密数据），它在编码器中扮演辅助信息的角色。因此，本研究的目标是构建和分析带边信息的时间信道上的隐蔽通信的新方法，以及检测它们的新方法，本研究围绕四个方面展开：1）建立数学公式，研究带边信息的时间码的信息论极限。问题公式化包括用于输入分组过程的统计模型（例如， 更新过程或马尔可夫过程）、隐写约束（以保证嵌入消息的统计不可检测性）、因果关系约束和延迟约束。2）开发并分析满足上述约束的实用代码族。这些码是非线性随机码（它们通过队列注入优化量的"噪声“），我们将它们称为基于隐写的隐写代码。3）开发一个有效的计算框架，用于优化与隐写过程相关的信息论泛函。4）构建一个隐写分析学习机（基于经验数据和各种时间代码），返回关于隐藏数据存在的二元决策。广泛影响和知识价值：该项目是高度多学科的，涉及随机过程，通信，编码，推理理论，信息论，统计，and learning学习theory理论.该项目解决了信息保护和网络安全应用的基本问题。其他影响包括加密过程的计算方法，信号处理和其他定时通道的隐写方法等。许多研究生都有兴趣进入这样一个有吸引力的研究领域，它结合了广度和强有力的强调基础与实际相关性。我们打算培养这些学生在信息技术方面的领导作用。