Towards deriving insights into data hiding methods using pattern-based approach

In network information hiding, hiding patterns are used to describe hiding methods and their taxonomy. In this paper, we analyze the current state of hiding patterns and we further improve their taxonomy. In order to more thoroughly characterize and understand data hiding methods applied to communication networks we propose to distinguish between sender-side and receiver-side patterns. Additionally, we show how information hiding patterns can be utilized to conveniently describe the realization of the distributed network covert channels.