Steganography vs. Cryptography — What's the Difference?

A method to hide the presence of communication.

Uses algorithms and keys for encryption and decryption.

Utilizes non-obvious carriers like images or videos.

Provides secure communication over insecure channels.

Prevents detection of the message's existence.

Ensures confidentiality and integrity of the message.

Can be combined with cryptography for added security.

Message content is inaccessible without the decryption key.

Concealment of a message within another medium.

Cryptography, or cryptology (from Ancient Greek: κρυπτός, romanized: kryptós "hidden, secret"; and γράφειν graphein, "to write", or -λογία -logia, "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adversarial behavior. More generally, cryptography is about constructing and analyzing protocols that prevent third parties or the public from reading private messages; various aspects in information security such as data confidentiality, data integrity, authentication, and non-repudiation are central to modern cryptography.

Steganography ( (listen) STEG-ə-NOG-rə-fee) is the practice of concealing a message within another message or a physical object. In computing/electronic contexts, a computer file, message, image, or video is concealed within another file, message, image, or video.

(Computers) Any of various mathematical techniques for encrypting and decrypting data in order to keep it private when transmitted or stored electronically.

The deliberate concealment of data within other data, as by embedding digitized text in a digitized image.

The process or skill of communicating in or deciphering secret writings or ciphers.

The practice of hiding messages, so that the presence of the message itself is hidden, often by writing them in places where they may not be found until someone finds the secret message in whatever is being used to hide it.

Secret writing.

Specifically: the use of small computer files to communicate secret information.

The discipline concerned with communication security (eg, confidentiality of messages, integrity of messages, sender authentication, non-repudiation of messages, and many other related issues), regardless of the used medium such as pencil and paper or computers.

The art of writing in cipher, or in characters which are not intelligible except to persons who have the key; cryptography.

The act or art of writing in code or secret characters; also, secret characters, codes or ciphers, or messages written in a secret code.

The branch of cryptography in which messages are hidden inside other messages; - used commonly for the process of hiding messages inside a computerized image file, as for example hiding the name and copyright notice of the owner of an image as protection against violation of the copyright.

The science which studies methods for encoding messages so that they can be read only by a person who knows the secret information required for decoding, called the key; it includes cryptanalysis, the science of decoding encrypted messages without possessing the proper key, and has several other branches; see for example steganography.

The science of analyzing and deciphering codes and ciphers and cryptograms

Act of writing in code or cipher

Transformation of a message into an unreadable format.

Yes, a message can be encrypted using cryptography and then hidden within another medium using steganography for enhanced security.

Cryptography is the practice of encrypting a message, transforming it into an unreadable format to protect its content from unauthorized access.

The main purpose of steganography is to conceal the existence of a message so that it goes undetected.

The main purpose of cryptography is to protect the content of a message by making it unreadable to unauthorized individuals.

Steganography can be detected using specialized tools and techniques, although it is designed to avoid detection.

Steganography can be used for covert communication, hiding sensitive information within innocuous files.

Steganography hides the existence of the message, while cryptography hides the content of the message by transforming it into an unreadable format.

Steganography is the practice of hiding a secret message within another medium, such as an image or audio file, to conceal its existence.

Keys are used in cryptographic algorithms to encrypt and decrypt messages, ensuring that only authorized parties can access the content.

Common methods include symmetric encryption (e.g., AES) and asymmetric encryption (e.g., RSA).

Cryptography is used to secure online communications, such as emails and financial transactions.

Cryptography can be highly secure if strong algorithms and keys are used, but it does not hide the existence of the communication.

Common media include images, audio files, video files, and text documents.

Steganography alone may not provide strong security; it is often combined with cryptography for better protection.

Cryptographic messages are designed to be unreadable without the correct decryption key.