Acronyms & Definitions

AEAD

Authenticated Encryption with Associated Data. A form of encryption that simultaneously provides confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity. AURA uses an AEAD scheme to cryptographically bind the hidden data to the cover image itself.

AES

Advanced Encryption Standard. A secure and widely adopted symmetric encryption algorithm. cZip uses AES-256 as its recommended encryption method.

API

Application Programming Interface. A set of rules and definitions that allows different software applications to communicate with each other. The AURA library provides an API for cZip to use.

AURA

Authenticated Unified Raster Algorithm. The proprietary, high-security steganography protocol developed for cZip.

CSPRNG

Cryptographically Secure Pseudo-Random Number Generator. An algorithm for generating random numbers that is suitable for use in cryptography. AURA uses a ChaCha20-based CSPRNG to generate a secret pixel path.

GUI

Graphical User Interface. A visual way of interacting with a computer, using elements like windows, icons, and buttons. cZip is a GUI application built with Qt5.

HKDF

HMAC-based Key Derivation Function. A standard method for deriving one or more secret keys from a single master key or password. AURA uses HKDF-SHA512 for its secure key expansion.

HMAC

Hash-based Message Authentication Code. A cryptographic construction used to verify both the data integrity and authenticity of a message. AURA uses HMAC-SHA512.

IV

Initialization Vector. A random or pseudo-random number used with a secret key to ensure that encrypting the same message multiple times results in a unique ciphertext each time.

LSB

Least Significant Bit. The bit in a binary number that has the lowest value (the rightmost bit). LSB steganography works by overwriting this bit in the color data of an image's pixels.

SHA

Secure Hash Algorithm. A family of cryptographic hash functions used to produce a unique "fingerprint" of a piece of data.