Fine-tuning of Distributed Network Covert Channels Parameters and Their Impact on Undetectability

Abstract

Currently the usage of various information hiding techniques for nefarious purposes becomes a major issue. Especially when the attackers, in order to stay under the radar, utilize increasingly sophisticated ways to conceal data. One of such advanced techniques is the use of distributed network covert channels (DNCC) where the secrets are spread among a number of available covert channels and transmitted in parallel. Taking above into consideration, in this paper we investigate how the data hiding techniques forming a DNCC can be configured to achieve an improved undetectability and how this impacts the DNCC performance and its detection susceptibility. Based on the presented results it can be concluded that if the utilized steganographic techniques forming a DNCC are used in a balanced manner then this may pose difficulties from the detection perspective although this typically also means significant limitation of the overall secret data rate.