In steganography, what is the carrier?

• A. The hidden message
• B. The signal or file in which the payload is hidden
• C. The encryption algorithm
• D. The channel bandwidth

Answer: (B)

In steganography, the aim is to hide a payload inside another object so the presence of hidden data isn’t obvious. The carrier is the medium that actually contains that hidden payload—the signal or file you use to conceal the data, such as an image, audio, or video file. The secret message itself is the payload that gets embedded, not the carrier. The encryption algorithm, if used, is just a method to protect the payload’s contents and is independent of what serves as the carrier. Channel bandwidth refers to how much data can be transmitted over a channel and doesn’t define what the carrier is.