Schneier on Stego, Dead Drops, bin Laden

[mmotyka at lsil.com]

Here are some excerpts :

> It doesn't surprise me that terrorists are using this trick. The
> very aspects of steganography that make it unsuitable for normal
> corporate use make it ideally suited for terrorist use.  Most
> importantly, it can be used in an electronic dead drop.
>...
> Why can't businesses use this? The primary reason is that legitimate
> businesses don't need dead drops.
>...
> Steganography is good way for terrorist cells to communicate,
>

and this ...

> So, what's a counter-espionage agency to do? 
>
> {chop}
>                                  If Bin Laden uses the same image to
>    transmit multiple messages, the NSA could notice that. Otherwise,
>    there's probably nothing the NSA can do. Dead drops, both real and
>    virtual, can't be prevented.
>
Am I wrong or does this article essentially say that stego is a tool for
terrorists and that no legitimate enterprise has any use for it? The
observation that there is probably nothing that anyone can do about it
notwithstanding, this looks to me like a strong statement that stego is
not a good thing. 

Whether stego has a 'legitimate business' use or not is irrelevant
except as an argument for prohibiting it.

The investment in stego detection is probably substantial and due to
increase.

Mike