What is steganography?

Steganography is the practice of concealing a message within another medium so that it is not obvious that a hidden message exists. This can be done by embedding a message within an image, audio file, or other types of digital content, making it difficult for potential interceptors to detect that there is any hidden communication taking place. The primary goal of steganography is to avoid drawing attention to the existence of the message itself, which is fundamentally different from mere data encryption where the existence of the message is apparent but rendered unreadable without the proper decryption key.

In contrast, the other options either describe different concepts related to data security or do not accurately capture the essence of steganography. Using complex algorithms for data encryption refers to ensuring privacy and security of information by making it unreadable without an appropriate key. Secure data transmission pertains to methods of ensuring that data is sent over a network without interception and unauthorized access. Verifying data integrity relates to ensuring that data remains unchanged during transmission or storage. Each of these aspects plays a role in cybersecurity, but only the practice of hiding messages qualifies as steganography.