INTROThe growing popularity of the Internet and multimedia methods has led to an ever-increasing interest in data hiding [with] in digital media (Wang). Most methods used to protect copyrighted materials, such as audio, video, images, and text files, focus primarily on the watermark. However, embedding data within data has also proven useful for covert communication, or stegonography. This article will discuss in more detail what stegonagraphy is and the different techniques used. BASIC UNDERSTANDING Stegonography is a form of covert communication which literally means covered writing (Niklasson). The message itself is left for everyone to see, but goes unnoticed because the very existence of a message is secret. A popular phrase used to describe this method is hidden in plain sight, experts call it security through obscurity (Duraiswamy). This is of course different from cryptography where the message is actually scrambled and the data left virtually unintelligible (encryption) to eavesdroppers, even though the existence of a message is often known in advance. It is also important to note that the watermark and stegonography also differ. Stegonographic information should never be obvious to a viewer unaware of its presence. Modern stegonography should only be detectable if secret information is known, i.e. a secret key, whereas this key feature is optional when it comes to watermarking. Also compared to watermarking, stegonography has attracted less attention until recently, as computer scientists, signal processing researchers and vendors of multimedia products concerned with information security have recognized that illicit use from middle of paper......ient, and goes straight to the heart of the literal meaning of writing covered in steganography (Niklasson).Works CitedDuraiswamy, Dr. K. "SAFETY THROUGH DARKNESS." Computer security writers. Np, ndWeb. March 17, 2011. Kipper, Greg. Investigator's Guide to Stegonography. AuerbachPublications, © 2004. Books24x7. Internet. March 17, 2011. http://common.books24x7.com.ezproxy2.lib.depaul.edu/book/id_7366/book.aspMcKevitt, Paul et al. “Digital Image Stegonography: Survey and Analysis of Current Methods.” Signal Processing 90.3 (2010): 727-752. AcademicSearchPremier. EBSCO. Internet. March 17, 2011. Niklasson, Hans. “Semagrams.” wbStego.WbStego, March 1, 2004. Web. March 17, 2011. Wang, Huaiqing and ShuozhongWang. “Cyber ​​Warfare: Stegonography versus Steganalysis.” Communications of the ACM 47.10 (2004): 76-82. Premier Academic Research. EBSCO. Internet. March 17.2011.