Covert channel for cluster-based file systems using multiple cover files

Abstract

Problems of sensitive information hiding in disk drives using cluster-based file systems are analyzed in this study. A new covert channel method for information hiding in disk drives is proposed and discussed. The method uses multiple cover files and is based on relative allocation of clusters of cover files in relation to one another. The experimental results presented in this paper show that the proposed method is easy to implement, provides good (for the covert channel) storage capacity and has the property of two-fold plausible deniability. The proposed covert channel method can be used for the storage of small and very sensitive information (such as passwords or encryption keys) on removable disk drives.