Chapter 3: History

While doing my research for this chapter, I came to realize that the further I dug, the more interested I became. I think you will find this loosely chronological layout very interesting. I wanted to include an in-depth section on history for many reasons, mainly as a logical starting point, a basis to gain some perspective about steganography and its uses. But, most importantly, this chapter will show you and, ultimately, educate you about some of the extremely inventive ways that steganography has been used in the past. While the bulk of this book deals with digital forms of steganography, there are no rules that say an opponent or attacker cannot revert back to an old, analog method. So this chapter's main goal is to make you aware of some things you may not have thought of on your own.

This chapter also makes mention of a few people throughout history who have made a contribution to cryptography rather than steganography. I have included them because these people often did some work that influenced the work of someone later, someone who did use steganography.

The Egyptians

The Egyptians, through their use of hieroglyphics, are considered the first to use cryptography. Hieroglyphic writing uses characters in the form of pictures. A hieroglyph can be read as a picture or a symbol for a picture or a sound. In a town called Menet Khufu some 4000 years ago, a scribe used hieroglyphics to tell the story of his master's life. While hieroglyphics are not thought of as a form of secret writing in the modern world, some hieroglyphics were stylized in such a way that only those who knew what to look for could read them properly. This meager distinction can be considered one of the first instances of steganography.