A symmetric key distribution protocol utilizing network steganography

• Main Authors: De La Cerna, Methuselah Galagar, Valera, Luis Angelo De La Cruz, Betito, Bernice Marie Martinez
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2022
• Subjects: Cryptography; Data encryption (Computer science); Information Security
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdb_comtech/5; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=etdb_comtech
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study explores network steganography techniques in implementing a symmetric key distribution protocol. The implemented design used the Overflow Field of an IP Timestamp Option as a covert channel to carry the symmetric key. The researchers developed Steganogram Receiver and Sender programs to simulate the transmission of the symmetric key based on the protocol designed. Several observations were made based on the conducted test results. First, the implementation can transmit an AES-256 symmetric key in a virtual environment. Second, the implementation was able to secretly transmit the symmetric key, with Wireshark not flagging any packets for errors or misuse. Third, it was also proven to handle potential packet loss using a built-in measure to resend the missing packets and deal with packet delays. Additionally, the implementation was proven to have a degree of accuracy when transmitting the symmetric key. Finally, by comparing the implemented programs' performance against an RSA program, it was observed that both programs have similar CPU consumption. However, the implementation was notably faster than the RSA program regarding their computational time and end-to-end latency.