IJAS Presentation

1. CRYPTOLOGY, STEGANOGRAPHY AND
PROPAGANDA: THE EXCLUSION AND
INCLUSION ROLES OF LANGUAGE IN
HUMAN COMMUNICATION.
Hajer Albalawi

2. Introduction:
• Communication includes a sender and recipient in a
linguistic context, and frequently excludes others.
• Inclusion and exclusion are major roles performed by
language as a communicative tool.
• These roles can be a natural consequence of the development
of a language, such as dialectical differences, which are
based on social determinants, including class, gender, and
age.
• Exclusion and inclusion can be manipulated to produce
secure communication.
• cryptology (i.e. the study of writing and solving codes), and
steganography (i.e. the practice of concealing messages or
information within non-secret text or data), which are
effectively and intentionally used to conceal important
communications.
• The role of propaganda as a legitimate and innocent
platform.

3. Unintentional Exclusion and Inclusion
1- The Dialect Differences:
(it is a natural growth of the language that develops over time and
distance).
R. A. Hudson, in his book Sociolinguistics, says, “It could be that we
use the pronunciation in order to identify our origins [. . .] we might use
morphology, syntax, and vocabulary in order to identify our current
status in society.” (43).

4. Cryptology and Steganography
• The language in code-making is manipulated in order to achieve a
conscious, purposeful, and direct inclusion and exclusion.
• The linguistic features are intentionally designed and controlled by
humans.
• The ambiguity and the difficulty are one of the characteristics of the
code-making.
• On the contrast, steganography appears innocent and everyone can
read the surface message, but it hides a crucial message that is only
read by a particular recipient.

5. Cryptology and Steganography Throughout
History. (Part 1)
• Steganography is originally derived from the Greek
language.
• The Greeks used the process of hiding
writing in many situations and forms.
• For instance, the sender wrote a secret message on
the shaved scalp of a messenger. Then, they waited
until the hair grew to secure the safety of hiding writing
or tattoo.
• In the Roman Period, invisible ink was known to hide
Secret information within an innocent letter.

6. Cryptology and Steganography Throughout
History (Part 2).
• The Egyptian drawing that still exists on the
tombs’ Walls inside the Giza Pyramid in Cairo,
the ancient Egyptians covertly communicated using
the Hieroglyphic language, a series of symbols
representing a message.
• The clay tablets from Mesopotamia
indicate the existence of secret
communication in the ancient age.

7. The Origin of Cryptology and Cryptanalysis
(House of Wisdom).
• The Arabs wrote down the major methods and
principals of cryptology.
• David Kahn, in his book, The Codebreakers, says that,
“Cryptology was born among the Arabs. They were
the first to discover and write down the methods of
cryptanalysis[. . .] Storytelling, exemplified by
Scheherazade’s Thousand and One Nights, word-
riddles, rebuses, puns, anagrams, and similar games
abounded; grammar became a major study. And
included was secret writing. (76).

8. Encryption during the
Wars: The Enigma
• The use of language in code-making and code-breaking
becomes more complicated in the sense that it is
combined with modern devices and tools.
• Simon Singh says in his book The Code Book, that,
“Cryptanalysis could not be invented until civilization
had reached a sufficiently sophisticated level of
scholarship in several disciplines, including
mathematics, statistics, and linguistics.” (15).
• In the military field, the intent of exclusion and
inclusion is the primary objective for communication.

9. The Bombe
• The Bombe worked as a code-breaking machine.
• The teamwork which consists of ten thousand
linguists and mathematicians, enabled them to crack
the German machine when they discovered the clue
of the Enigma.

10. The Language Barrier
• On the battlefield, speed and security
are very important.
• The use of Navajo language is crucial in
WWII.
•
• The need to have a secret language and
unbreakable codes to communicate
within the U.S. Navy became very
urgent because Japan broke every code
that the Americans tried to use.

11. The Relation between Cryptology, Steganography, and
Propaganda (Part I).
• Propaganda is legitimate and unsuspicious platforms.
• Propaganda also performs this role skillfully and deliberately.
• It adds rhetorical strength to both cryptology and steganography.
• Garth S. Jowett in his book, Propaganda and Persuasion, describes propaganda as, “suspicious rhetoric” (3).
• The effectiveness and deception of propaganda arise from its adherence to persuasive strategies.
• the persuasive and rhetorical sides of propaganda are fundamental in creating a fertile and secure
setting for cryptologists and steganographists to hide their real intent and purpose.

12. The Relation between Cryptology,
Steganography, and Propaganda (Part II).
• It is the rhetorical and persuasive functions that enable it to penetrate our
daily communication, especially in the internet age.
• It uses persuasive techniques that combine with the ideological
concepts of a society, shaping public opinion and influencing one’s
decision as a consequence. Leonard Doob defines propaganda as,
“the attempt to affect the personalities and to control the behavior of
individuals towards desired ends” (4).

13. Conclusion
• First, the human ability to adapt the linguistic behavior to cover their secret language.
• Second, the flexibility of language to serve human desires and purpose under any
circumstance.
• Third, critical thinking is essential for developing the human reaction towards
suspicious and secret communication.
• Fourth, in order to develop our critical sense, it is vital to first understand the ways,
methods, and roles used by powerful forces in society when controlling and shaping
decisions and reactions.
Thus, an overview of propaganda and its relationship to cryptology and steganography
will contribute to clarifying the human capacity to be deceived, while also raising
awareness of this important aspect of contemporary life.

14. References
Kahn, David. The Codebreakers: The Story of Secret Writing. New York: Macmillan, 1967. Print.
Jowett, Garth S., and Victoria ODonnell. Propaganda and Persuasion. Washington DC: SAGE Publications, 1986. Print.
Singh, Simon. The Code Book: The Secret History of Codes and Code-breaking Cryptography. London: Fourth Estate, 2000. Print.
Desoky, Abdelrahman. “Litegsa: list-based Steganography Methodology.” International Journal of Information Security 8.4 (2009): 247-261.
Print.
Desoky, Abdelrahman. “Notestega: Notes-based steganography methodology.” International Journal of Information Security 18.4 (2009): 178-
193. Print.
Edwards, A. D. Language in Culture and Class: The Sociology of Language and Education.
London: Heinemann Educational, 1976. Print.
Ellul, Jacques, Propaganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes. New York: Vintage Books. 1965.
Print.
Herman, Edward S., and Noam Chomsky. Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the
Mass Media. New York: Pantheon Books. 2019. Print.
Jack, Meadows. “Limitations on the Publishing of Scientific Research.” Information Security: A Comparative Handout. Ed. Karl De Leeuw, Jan
Bergstra. Oxford: Elsevier, 2007.29-51. Print.
Josef, A., DeVito, The communication handbook: a dictionary. New York: Harper & Row, 1986.
Print.

15. Thank you.