SkyDe: a Skype-based Steganographic Method

TL;DR

SkyDe is a novel steganographic technique that exploits Skype's encrypted silence packets to enable covert communication with a bandwidth of up to 2.8 kbps, demonstrated through proof-of-concept and experiments.

Contribution

It introduces a new Skype-based steganographic method that leverages unused encrypted silence packets for covert data transmission.

Findings

Feasible steganographic bandwidth of 2.8 kbps.

Proof-of-concept implementation successfully demonstrates the method.

Utilizes Skype's lack of silence suppression for covert communication.

Abstract

This paper introduces SkyDe (Skype Hide), a new steganographic method that utilizes Skype encrypted packets with silence to provide the means for clandestine communication. It is possible to reuse packets that do not carry voice signals for steganographic purposes because Skype does not use any silence suppression mechanism. The method's proof-of-concept implementation and first experimental results are presented. They prove that the method is feasible and offers steganographic bandwidth as high as 2.8 kbps.