This method of passing sensitive communications through concealed means is known as steganography, and has been employed since the ancient Greeks. These hidden messages can only be seen by the sender and intended recipient, making it difficult for outsiders to trace.

But today, notorious terrorist groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah and Al Qaeda have used steganography by concealing messages in maps, photographs, in chat rooms or on pornographic websites. And with the rapid expansion of the Internet, these secret messages have become more difficult to find.

“Quite an alarming number of images appear to have steganography in them,” said Chet Hosmer, who is an expert in cyber encryption and founder of WetStone Technologies.

Hosmer said he has found traces of steganography on sites like eBay, but declined to reveal other sites in order to avoid tipping off terrorists.

The use of steganography breaks no law and is a process often used to protect one’s privacy and anonymity.
But when in the hands of terrorists, scrambling embedded secret messages across the vast landscape of the Internet makes it difficult for law enforcement agencies to identify underlying threats.

Osama Bin Laden and his allies were using steganography to carry out the 9/11 attacks, according to U.S. and foreign officials.

“Finding files tainted by steganography is like looking for a piece of straw in a haystack—forget the needle,” said Neil Johnson, president of Johnson & Johnson Technology Consultants. The Internet has more than 3 billion websites, making it nearly impossible to detect subtle changes in image bits per pixels or data files. A slight change in bits or files can capture a hidden message, which can only be decoded through certain steganography software and programs.

However, there are more than 140 steganography programs available for encoding messages, such as Spam Mimic, S-Tools and Mozaiq, which are freely accessible and easy to use.

And few programs have been designed to decode these encrypted messages. In 1998 the Air Force commissioned WetStone Technologies to develop software capable of detecting secret messages in computer files and electronic transmissions, but the software is limited by the continuous evolution of new technologies, Hosmer said.

The Patriot Act signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2001 included provisions to diminish the threat of encrypted messaging on the Internet. But experts say surveying every crook and cranny of the Internet is a daunting task.

“Crypto is—and, for decades, has been—a huge problem—but legal,” said Dr. Gary Kessler, associate professor who specializes in cyber security at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida.

“I know of nothing that the U.S. government is doing—or, speaking practically, could do to prevent the circulation of Cryptographic tools,” Kessler said.

In 2011 the U.S. Department of Defense declared cyberspace a new domain of warfare. Until at least fiscal year 2016, each military department will contribute teams of fully trained cyber personnel to assist in defusing threats across the web, Eric Rosenbach, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for cyber policy, said in a press release.

Since 9/11 much has been done to thwart the use of steganography by terrorists, but because the Internet continues to grow these encrypted messages can easily slip through the cracks.

From the Arab Spring in 2010 to the wave of protests through the Occupy Wall Street movement of 2011, cries of democracy have been ringing from all corners of the earth, sparked by the participation of the young generation.

With U.S. national security intertwined with the stability of other countries, the United States has openly supported their democratic efforts. The benefits to U.S. interests include a reduction in threats to the homeland, fewer refugees attempting to enter the United States and better economic partners for American trade and investment, according to a Harvard University paper by Sean M. Lynn-Jones.

But as demonstrated by the U.S. interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan, the seed of democratic ideologies has not grown as a result of U.S. pressure.

These crusaders for democracy must be that country’s citizens, such as Glanis Changachirere of Zimbabwe, Vera Kichanova of Russia, Gulalai Ismail of Pakistan and Rosa Paya of Cuba, who have set the stage of equality and fairness within their respective countries. Last month these women received the 2013 Democracy Award presented by the National Endowment for Democracy.

Living under authoritative governance, these four young women have been struggling for their fellow citizens’ rights, a battle that is far from over.  These women are fighting for basic rights such as voting, protection against gender based violence and government transparency.

Vera Kichanova, a 22-year-old Russian journalist, has been arrested numerous times for her outspoken defense of democratic principles. She said the youth in Russia have finally begun to open their eyes.

“Most of the young people they are not interested in politics because they do not see the connection with what they call politics and what is happening in their lives,” said Kichanova at the award ceremony.

Young people generally had poor political participation, but now with the power of the internet, awareness can travel fast, she said. Since younger generations spend more time on social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter, youth have become the key players in the fruition of these protests, movements and even uprisings.

The internet’s ability to gather critical masses has made it easy for people to rally together and speak their concerns, sometimes even create change like in Tunisia, Libya and Yemen.

This advantage has established youth as the leading force for political change, said Gulalai Ismail,  who has lead the charge for women’s rights in Pakistan, where she founded and chairs a women’s empowerment organization.

“We used to say that young people are the future of their countries but now today young people are the present,” Ismail, 26, said.

But if these democratic values are to take root, the political systems of these countries must change, she said. The enduring effect of democracy depends on indigenous efforts because without a legitimate political framework, sustainability is not possible, she added.

Although the U.S. is the global beacon of democracy, their promotion of democratic ideology is more of a national issue than a humanitarian service. One senior U.S. official told CNN, “Maybe we should be having a greater discussion about the point that democracy is the absolute, but we are acting on our own national interests and we should be clear about them [in reference to the Arab Spring]. To say we are not doing that is disingenuous. We are not an NGO.”