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Covert Channel

nounid 2041·updated May 12, 2026
candidate

An unauthorized communication path that manipulates a communications medium in an unexpected, unconventional, or unforeseen way in order to transmit information without detection by anyone other than the entities operating the covert channel.

MWE

Classifications

Entity Type

Vulnerability0%rule-basedmulti_axis_classifier_low_confidence.v1

Sensitivity

Restricted70%llm-generatedllm:claude-haiku-4-5

Information Class

Cui70%llm-generatedllm:claude-haiku-4-5

Variants

alternatephrasing
Covert Channels
plural
Covert ChannelsCovert Channelses
possessive
Covert Channel'sCovert Channels's
pluralpossessive
Covert Channels'Covert Channelses'

Framework definitions

SANS Glossary of Security Terms1 senseview framework →
§1
Covert Channels are the means by which information can be communicated between two parties in a covert fashion using normal system operations. For example by changing the amount of hard drive space that is available on a file server can be used to communicate information.
NISTIR 7298: Glossary of Key Information Security Terms, Revision 21 senseview framework →
§1
An unauthorized communication path that manipulates a communications medium in an unexpected, unconventional, or unforeseen way in order to transmit information without detection by anyone other than the entities operating the covert channel.
CNSSI-4009 (Glossary of Information Assurance Terms)1 senseview framework →
§1
An unauthorized communication path that manipulates a communications medium in an unexpected, unconventional, or unforeseen way in order to transmit information without detection by anyone other than the entities operating the covert channel.

Outgoing relationships

No outgoing triples
This term is not the subject of any RDF-style relationship yet.

Incoming relationships

No incoming triples
No other term currently asserts a relationship to this one.