ETRI Journal

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (한국전자통신연구원)
권호 표지
DOI QR코드

DOI QR Code

MKIPS: MKI-based protocol steganography method in SRTP

  • Received : 2018.07.30
  • Accepted : 2019.08.28
  • Published : 2021.06.01
Download PDF
⟨ Previous Next ⟩

Abstract

This paper presents master key identifier based protocol steganography (MKIPS), a new approach toward creating a covert channel within the Secure Real-time Transfer Protocol, also known as SRTP. This can be achieved using the ability of the sender of Voice-over-Internet Protocol packets to select a master key from a pre-shared list of available cryptographic keys. This list is handed to the SRTP sender and receiver by an external key management protocol during session initiation. In this work, by intelligent utilization of the master key identifier field in the SRTP packet creation process, a covert channel is created. The proposed covert channel can reach a relatively high transfer rate, and its capacity may vary based on the underlying SRTP channel properties. In comparison to existing data embedding methods in SRTP, MKIPS can convey a secret message without adding to the traffic overhead of the channel and packet loss in the destination. Additionally, the proposed covert channel is as robust as its underlying user datagram protocol channel.

Keywords

References

  1. M. Fakhredanesh and N. Sheikholeslami, Improvement of transteg over VoIP, J. Electron. Ind. (2019).
  2. W. Mazurczyk and K. Szczypiorski, Steganography of VoIP streams, in On the Move to Meaningful Internet Systems: OTM 2008, vol. 5332, Springer, Berlin, Germany, 2008.
  3. W. Mazurczyk, VoIP steganography and its detection-A survey, ACM Comput. Surv. 46 (2013), no. 2, 1-21, Article no. 20. https://doi.org/10.1145/2543581.2543587
  4. W. Mazurczyk and K. Szczypiorski, Covert channels in SIP for VoIP signaling, in Proc. Int. Conf. Glob. e-Secur. (ICGeS), (London, UK), June 2008, pp. 65-72.
  5. P. Lloyd, An exploration of covert channels within voice over IP, M.S. Thesis, Rochester Institute of Technology, May 2010.
  6. M. Mehic, J. Slachta, and M. Voznak, Hiding data in SIP session, in Proc. Conf. Telecommun. Signal Process. (TSP), (Prague, Czech Republic), July 2015.
  7. M. Fakhredanesh, R. Safabakhsh, and M. Rahmati, A model-based image steganography method using Watson's visual model, ETRI J. 36 (2014), 479-489. https://doi.org/10.4218/etrij.14.0113.0171
  8. N. Aoki, A packet loss concealment technique for VoIP using steganography, in Proc. Int. Symp. Intell. Signal Process. Commun. Syst. (ISPACS'03), (Awaji Island, Japan), Dec. 2003, pp. 470-473.
  9. W. Mazurczyk and Z. Kotulski, New VoIP traffic security scheme with digital watermarking, in Computer Safety, Reliability, and Security, vol. 4166, Springer, Berlin, Germany, 2006, pp. 170-181.
  10. N. Aoki, Potential of value-added speech communications by using steganography, in Proc. Intell. Inform. Hiding Multimedia Signal Process. (IIHMSP'07), (Kaohsiung, Taiwan), Nov. 2007, pp. 251-254.
  11. N. Aoki, VoIP packet loss concealment based on two-side pitch waveform replication technique using steganography, in Proc. IEEE Region 10 Conf. (TENCON'04), (Chiang Mai, Thailand), Nov. 2004, pp. 52-55.
  12. A. Giani, V. H. Berk, and G. V. Cybenko, Data exfiltration and covert channels, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA, 2006.
  13. US Department of Defense, DOD 5200.28-STD, Department of Defense Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria, Dec. 1985.
  14. IETF | RFC 3711, Secure Real-Time Protocol (SRTP), 2004.
  15. IETF | RFC 7201, Options for Securing RTP Sessions, 2014.
  16. IETF | RFC 4568, Security Descriptions for Media Streams: Session Description Protocol (SDP), 2006.
  17. C. R. Forbes, A new covert channel over RTP, M.S. Thesis, Rochester Institute of Technology, Aug. 2009.
  18. L. Bai et al., Covert channels based on jitter field of the RTCP header, in Proc. Int. Conf. Intell. Inform. Hiding Multimed. Signal, Process. (IIHMSP'08), (Harbin, China), Aug. 2008, pp. 1388-1391.
  19. L. Yinga et al., Novel covert timing channel based on RTP/RTCP, Chin. J. Electron., 21 (2012), no. 4, 711-714.
  20. G Shah, A Molina, and M Blaze, Keyboards and covert channels, in Proc. USENIX Secur. Symp. (Berkeley, CA, USA), July 2006, pp. 59-75.
  21. G. Shah and M. Blaze, Covert channels through external interference, in Proc. USENIX Conf. Offensive Technol. (Montreal, Canada), Aug. 2009, p. 3.
  22. S. Chen, X. Wang, and S. Jajodia, On the anonymity and traceability of peer-to-peer VoIP calls, IEEE Netw. 20 (2006), 32-37.
  23. X. Wang, S. Chen, S. Jajodia, Tracking anonymous peer-to-peer VoIP calls on the internet, in Proc. ACM Conf. Comput. Commun. Secur. (CCS'05), (New York, NY, USA), Nov. 2005, pp. 81-91.
  24. S. S. Schmidt et al., A new data-hiding approach for IP telephony applications with silence suppression, in Proc. Availability, Reliab. Secur. (ARES '17), (Reggio Calabria, Italy), Aug. 2017.
  25. M. Hamdaqa and L. Tahvildari, ReLACK: A reliable VoIP steganography approach, in Proc. Int. Conf. Secur. Softw. Integration Reliab. Improv. (SSIRI'11), (Jeju, Rep. of Korea), Aug. 2011, pp. 189-197.
  26. K. Ahsan and D. Kundur, Practical data hiding in TCP/IP, in Proc. Workshop Multimed. Secur. Nov. 2002.
  27. H. A. Moghadasi and M. Fakhredanesh, Speech steganography in wavelet domain using continuous genetic algorithm, J. Math. Comput. Sci. 11 (2014), 218-230. https://doi.org/10.22436/jmcs.011.03.05
  28. M. Fakhredanesh, M. Rahmati, and R. Safabakhsh, Steganography in the discrete wavelet transform based on the human visual system and cover model, Multimed. Tools Appl. 78 (2019), 118475-18502.