Live Steganography Experiments
This project explores the concept of serving live image requests while embedding encrypted metadata into images using real-time steganography.
Core Concept
The server begins by caching all images into memory (if configured to do so). When a client requests an image:
- The server intercepts the request.
- It embeds encrypted metadata — including the client’s IP address, timestamp, and headers — directly into the image pixels using LSB (Least Significant Bit) encoding.
- The modified image is returned to the client in real time.
- If the image is later disseminated (and remains uncompressed), it can be traced back to the original request.
Key properties of the system:
- Invisible: Embedding is imperceptible to the human eye.
- Encrypted: Metadata is secured with AES-GCM; only those with the key can decrypt it.
- Stateless: No logs are stored on the server; the information is embedded within the image itself.
Use Cases
- Watermarking downloaded content per user
- Forensic tracking and auditing of media distribution
Limitations
- For large images, encoding can introduce noticeable latency.
- Embedded images are generated per request, which limits caching efficiency.
Components
stego-server/: HTTP server that encodes client metadata into images on-the-fly.stego-client/: CLI tool to decode and decrypt embedded metadata from images.
Disclaimer
Do not use this technology in ways that violate laws, privacy regulations, or platform terms of service.