Steganography is the study of concealing and sending a secret message by making the eavesdropper unaware of its presence. First ever attempt to propose steganography via quantum key distribution (QKD) was made by Martin in his paper where BB84 QKD was used for communicating steganographic messages. The protocol have recently been found to be insecure against a detection based steganalysis attack which uses ambiguous quantum state discrimination. In this work, we extend the previous methods to develop new continuous variable quantum steganographic protocols using QKD and analyze their performance against steganalysis.
Steganography is the study of concealing and sending a secret message by making the eavesdropper unaware of its presence. First ever attempt to propose steganography via quantum key distribution (QKD) was made by Martin in his paper where BB84 QKD was used for communicating steganographic messages. The protocol have recently been found to be insecure against a detection based steganalysis attack which uses ambiguous quantum state discrimination. In this work, we extend the previous methods to develop new continuous variable quantum steganographic protocols using QKD and analyze their performance against steganalysis.
Quantum computing threatens classical cryptography and the convergence of quantum key distribution (QKD), and steganography offers an unconditionally secure hybrid approach for postquantum communication. QKD ensures provable secrecy via quantum mechanics, while steganography conceals the existence of communication providing stealth and plausible deniability. This systematic review explores integrated frameworks that combine QKD with classical and quantum steganographic techniques to enhance confidentiality, integrity, and undetectability. The study categorizes existing hybrid models and evaluates their performance using metrics such as quantum bit error rate (QBER), entropy, and imperceptibility. It examines quantum steganographic protocols including quantum LSB, entangled‐state hiding, and covert key transmission, analyzing their resilience against quantum noise and steganalysis. Despite promising simulation tools and real‐time QKD implementations, challenges remain in scalability, interoperability, and formal security guarantees. This review identifies key limitations in current systems and highlights future directions for developing robust, scalable, and stealth‐aware quantum–classical security frameworks. To the best of current knowledge, this is the first systematic synthesis of hybrid QKD–steganography frameworks offering a novel taxonomy and critical analysis to advance secure communication infrastructures in the postquantum era.
In response to rising cyber threats and the limitations of traditional security, this project proposes a hybrid framework combining quantum cryptography and text-based steganography for secure and concealed communication. Using the BB84 Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) protocol, a secure quantum key is established and extended with SHA-256 to encrypt a secret message via XOR operations. The encrypted data is embedded into a cover text using three steganographic techniques: case-based, zero-width, and color-based methods, the latter including double-color and double-color overlay variants. The techniques are evaluated on embedding efficiency, payload capacity, entropy, and deviation percentage. Among them, double-layer color-based steganography demonstrates superior performance, achieving up to 6 bits/symbol and 95% efficiency, with minimal error and high integrity. The system is implemented using Qiskit and HTML rendering, validating its practical feasibility. This dual-layer security model ensures confidentiality and invisibility, offering a robust, quantum-enhanced approach to secure communication in sensitive applications.
The remarkable advancement of quantum steganography offers enhanced security for quantum communications.However, there is a significant concern regarding the potential misuse of this technology.Moreover, the current research on identifying malicious quantum steganography is insufficient.To address this gap in steganalysis research, this paper proposes a specialized quantum steganalysis algorithm.This algorithm utilizes quantum machine learning techniques to detect steganography in general quantum secure communication schemes that are based on pure states.The algorithm presented in this paper consists of two main steps: data preprocessing and automatic discrimination.The data preprocessing step involves extracting and amplifying abnormal signals, followed by the automatic detection of suspicious quantum carriers through training on steganographic and non-steganographic data.The numerical results demonstrate that a larger disparity between the probability distributions of steganographic and non-steganographic data leads to a higher steganographic detection indicator, making the presence of steganography easier to detect.By selecting an appropriate threshold value, the steganography detection rate can exceed 90%.
Steganography is the art and science of hiding the fact that communication is taking place. Steganographic systems can hide messages inside of images or other digital objects. To a casual observer inspecting these images, the messages are invisible. The security of a classical steganographic system relies on the secrecy of the encoding system. Once the encoding system is known, the steganographic system is defeated. However, modern steganography should be detectable only if secret information is known, namely, asecret key. Because of their invasive nature, steganographic systems leave detectable traces within a medium's characteristics. This allows an eavesdropper to detect modified media, revealing that secret communication is taking place. Although the secret content is not exposed, its existence is revealed, which defeats the mainpurpose of steganography. This work has as purpose to expand the field of applicability of the steganography from the classical informatics to the quantum one.
Steganography is the technique of hiding secret information by embedding it in a seemingly ``innocent'' message. We present protocols for hiding quantum information by disguising it as noise in a codeword of a quantum error-correcting code. The sender (Alice) swaps quantum information into the codeword and applies a random choice of unitary operation, drawing on a secret random key she shares with the receiver (Bob). Using the key, Bob can retrieve the information, but an eavesdropper (Eve) with the power to monitor the channel, but without the secret key, cannot distinguish the message from channel noise. We consider two types of protocols: one in which the hidden quantum information is stored locally in the codeword, and another in which it is embedded in the space of error syndromes. We analyze how difficult it is for Eve to detect the presence of secret messages, and estimate rates of steganographic communication and secret key consumption for specific protocols and examples of error channels. We consider both the case where there is no actual noise in the channel (so that all errors in the codeword result from the deliberate actions of Alice), and the case where the channel is noisy and not controlled by Alice and Bob.
Quantum steganography is the study of hiding secret quantum information by encoding it into what an eavesdropper would perceive as an innocent-looking message. Here we study an explicit steganographic encoding for Alice to hide her secret message in the syndromes of an error-correcting code, so that the encoding simulates a given noisy quantum channel. We calculate achievable rates of steganographic communication over noiseless quantum channels using this encoding. We give definitions of secrecy and reliability for the communication process, and with these assumptions derive upper bounds on the amount of steganographic communication possible and show that these bounds match the communication rates achieved with our encoding. This gives a steganographic capacity for a noiseless channel emulating a given noisy channel.