Steganography is the practice of concealing a file, message, image, or video within another seemingly innocuous file, known as the carrier or cover medium. The primary objective of steganography is to hide the existence of the secret communication itself. Unlike cryptography, which encrypts the content of a message to make it unreadable, steganography conceals the fact that a message is being sent at all. Threat actors leverage this technique to exfiltrate sensitive data or to hide malicious payloads within benign files (e.g., images, audio files) to bypass security controls.

A. Password cracking: This is the process of recovering passwords from data systems. It focuses on gaining unauthorized access, not on hiding the existence of data.

B. Artifact wiping: This technique involves removing or destroying digital evidence (artifacts) of an intrusion to evade detection and forensic analysis. It is about data destruction, not concealment.

D. Program packer: This is a tool that compresses or encrypts an executable file. While used for obfuscation, it modifies the program itself rather than hiding it within a separate, unrelated file.

1. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). (n.d.). Glossary: Steganography. Computer Security Resource Center. Retrieved from https://csrc.nist.gov/glossary/term/steganography.

Reference Point: The NIST glossary defines steganography as "The art and science of communicating in a way which hides the existence of the communication."

2. Kessler, G. C. (2001). An Overview of Steganography for the Computer Forensics Examiner. SANS Institute InfoSec Reading Room.

Reference Point: Section "What is Steganography?", page 3, states, "Steganography is the art of hiding information in ways that prevent the detection of hidden messages... steganography is the art of covered or hidden writing." (Note: While SANS is a commercial entity, its research papers are widely cited in academic and official contexts and are considered authoritative).

3. Provos, N., & Honeyman, P. (2003). Hide and Seek: An Introduction to Steganography. IEEE Security & Privacy, 1(3), 32-44. https://doi.org/10.1109/MSECP.2003.1203220

Reference Point: Page 32, Abstract, states, "Steganography is the art of hiding information in inconspicuous cover data." The article further distinguishes it from cryptography by emphasizing its goal is to hide the message's existence.