SECURE COMMUNICATION USING SECRET KEY STEGANOGRAPHY

• Published in: International journal of advances in engineering and technology Vol. 6; no. 6; p. 2692
• Main Authors: Mishra, Madhusudhan, Tiwari, Gangadhar, Yadav, Arun Kumar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bareilly I A E T Publishing Company 01.01.2014
• Subjects: Algorithms; Computer simulation; Encryption; Image processing; Messages; Similarity; Steganography
• ISSN: 2231-1963; 2231-1963

This paper proposes a novel steganographic technique for secure data communication by combining Secret Key cryptography with Digital Image steganography. At the sender's end, the proposed scheme first encrypts the secret messages using Advanced Encryption Standard algorithm (AES), then embeds it into randomly chosen least significant bits (LSB) of the cover image using stego key. At the recipient's end, first the secret message is extracted using stego key then decrypted using cipher key. The cipher key for message encryption is 256 bits long. The random distribution of message bits inside the cover image makes steganalysis harder. The location of image pixel values for embedding/extracting the encrypted secret message is determined by random numbers generated using Discrete Logarithm Calculation Technique. Simulation results indicate that the stego image is perceptually similar to cover image. The perceptual fidelity of the stego images and its robustness to various image processing distortions are measured in terms of Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Mean Structural Similarity Index (MSSIM) and the results are found satisfactory. Further, the proposed scheme is secure against known cryptanalytic and steganalytic attacks. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]