The first recorded use of the term was in 1499 by Johannes Trithemius in his Steganographia, a treatise on cryptography and steganography disguised as a book on magic. The defining property of steganography is the attempt to hide all evidence that the communication is taking place in the first place, as the interception of the message can be just as damaging because it tells an opponent or enemy that someone is communicating with someone else.