Exploring Covert Channels

Covert channels pose a threat to system security for many reasons. One of the most significant security concerns surrounding the use of covert channels in computer and information systems involves confidentiality and the ability to leak confidential information from a high level security user to a low level one covertly. There are many differing views surrounding the ideas of covert channels and steganography with debates igniting over the existence of a relationship between the two concepts. This debate can be resolved with a model to provide a perception of covert channel communication to yield a better understanding of covert channels. In this paper, we propose a model to perceive covert channel communication. We use the proposed model to explore the relationship between covert channels, steganography and water-marking. The intent is to provide a better understanding of covert channel communication in an attempt to develop investigative support for confidentiality.