Hydan: Hiding Information in Program Binaries

We present a scheme to steganographically embed information in x86 program binaries. We define sets of functionally-equivalent instructions, and use a key-derived selection process to encode information in machine code by using the appropriate instructions from each set. Such a scheme can be used to watermark (or fingerprint) code, sign executables, or simply create a covert communication channel. We experimentally measure the capacity of the covert channel by determining the distribution of equivalent instructions in several popular operating system distributions. Our analysis shows that we can embed only a limited amount of information in each executable (approximately 110 bit encoding rate), although this amount is sufficient for some of the potential applications mentioned

FPGA Based Implementation of an Invisible-Robust Image Watermarking Encoder

Both encryption and digital watermarking techniques need to be incorporated in a digital rights management framework to address different aspects of content management. While encryption transforms original multimedia object into another form, digital watermarking leaves the original object intact and recognizable. The objective is to develop low power, real time, reliable and secure watermarking systems, which can be achieved through hardware implementations