What is Steganography primarily used for?

Steganography is primarily used for hiding messages within other messages. The key concept of steganography is to conceal the existence of the message itself, making it undetectable to any unintended recipient. This is different from encryption, where the message is transformed into an unreadable format but remains apparent that there is a message present. In steganography, the hidden message is embedded within another medium, such as an image, audio file, or text, allowing it to be transmitted without raising suspicion. This technique is particularly useful for covert communication, where both the existence and content of the information must remain secret from potential eavesdroppers.

The other options represent different concepts in information security and data management. Encrypting data focuses on making information unreadable to unauthorized users while maintaining its obvious presence. Data compression is about reducing the size of data, which doesn't pertain to hiding information. Data recovery deals with restoring lost or corrupted data, which is unrelated to concealing messages.