08-08-2012, 12:07 PM
Hiding in Plain Sight – A Steganography Tool
[attachment=30525]
Abstract
Steganography is the art of hiding the fact that communication is taking place, by hiding information in other information. Many different carrier file formats can be used, but digital images are the most popular because of their frequency on the Internet. For hiding secret information in images, there exists a large variety of steganographic techniques some are more complex than others and all of them have respective strong and weak points. Different applications have different requirements of the steganography technique used. For example, some applications may require absolute invisibility of the secret information, while others require a larger secret message to be hidden. This project intends to give an overview of image steganography, its uses and techniques. It also supports steganography in Audio files. For a more secure approach, the project encrypts the message using secret key and then sends it to the receiver. The receiver then decrypts the message to get the original one.
Introduction
Steganography derives from the Greek word steganos, meaning covered or secret, and graphy (writing or drawing). On the simplest level, steganography is hidden writing, whether it consists of invisible ink on paper or copyright information hidden in an audio file.
Where cryptography scrambles a message into a code to obscure its meaning, steganography hides the message entirely. These two secret communication technologies can be used separately or together—for example, by first encrypting a message, then hiding it in another file for transmission. As the world becomes more anxious about the use of any secret communication, and as regulations are created by governments to limit uses of encryption, steganography’s role is gaining prominence.
Where Hidden Data hides?
It is possible to alter graphic or sound files slightly without losing their overall viability for the viewer and listener. With audio, you can use bits of file that contain sound not audible to the human ear. With graphic images, you can remove redundant bits of color from the image
and still produce a picture that looks intact to human eye and is difficult to discern from its original.
It is in those bits that stego hides its data. A stego program uses an algorithm, to embed data in an image or sound file, and a password scheme to allow you to retrieve information.
Encryption
Platform
Provided using: Java Cryptographic Extension (JCE)
The Java Cryptography Extension (JCE) provides a framework and implementations for encryption, key generation and key agreement, and Message Authentication Code (MAC) algorithms. Support for encryption includes symmetric, asymmetric, block, and stream ciphers. The software also supports secure streams and sealed objects.
Algorithm Used
The project uses an encryption algorithm called Data Encryption Standard (DES). Whenever a text file is selected to be encoded in the Image or the Audio file, it is first encrypted using the DES Algorithm and then that file is sent to the receiver. The receiver in turn decrypts it using the same key, and thus gets the appropriate message. In a nutshell, the reason that we encrypt the message is :
Cryptography + Steganography = Secure Steganography
About DES:
Fundamentally DES performs only two operations on its input, bit shifting, and bit substitution. The key controls exactly how this process works. By doing these operations repeatedly and in a non-linear manner you end up with a result which cannot be used to retrieve the original without the key. DES works on 64 bits of data at a time. Each 64 bits of data is iterated on from 1 to 16 times (16 is the DES standard). For each iteration a 48 bit subset of the 56 bit key is fed into the encryption block represented by the dashed rectangle above. Decryption is the inverse of the encryption process.
Conclusion:
The project was completed successfully to build a tool called – Hiding in Plain Sight. This tool can be used for hiding the text message in the image or the audio files. Also, the message that is sent can be encrypted, so as to support secure steganography. Regardless, the technology called steganography is easy to use and difficult to detect. The more that you know about its features and functionality, the more ahead you will be in the game.
[attachment=30525]
Abstract
Steganography is the art of hiding the fact that communication is taking place, by hiding information in other information. Many different carrier file formats can be used, but digital images are the most popular because of their frequency on the Internet. For hiding secret information in images, there exists a large variety of steganographic techniques some are more complex than others and all of them have respective strong and weak points. Different applications have different requirements of the steganography technique used. For example, some applications may require absolute invisibility of the secret information, while others require a larger secret message to be hidden. This project intends to give an overview of image steganography, its uses and techniques. It also supports steganography in Audio files. For a more secure approach, the project encrypts the message using secret key and then sends it to the receiver. The receiver then decrypts the message to get the original one.
Introduction
Steganography derives from the Greek word steganos, meaning covered or secret, and graphy (writing or drawing). On the simplest level, steganography is hidden writing, whether it consists of invisible ink on paper or copyright information hidden in an audio file.
Where cryptography scrambles a message into a code to obscure its meaning, steganography hides the message entirely. These two secret communication technologies can be used separately or together—for example, by first encrypting a message, then hiding it in another file for transmission. As the world becomes more anxious about the use of any secret communication, and as regulations are created by governments to limit uses of encryption, steganography’s role is gaining prominence.
Where Hidden Data hides?
It is possible to alter graphic or sound files slightly without losing their overall viability for the viewer and listener. With audio, you can use bits of file that contain sound not audible to the human ear. With graphic images, you can remove redundant bits of color from the image
and still produce a picture that looks intact to human eye and is difficult to discern from its original.
It is in those bits that stego hides its data. A stego program uses an algorithm, to embed data in an image or sound file, and a password scheme to allow you to retrieve information.
Encryption
Platform
Provided using: Java Cryptographic Extension (JCE)
The Java Cryptography Extension (JCE) provides a framework and implementations for encryption, key generation and key agreement, and Message Authentication Code (MAC) algorithms. Support for encryption includes symmetric, asymmetric, block, and stream ciphers. The software also supports secure streams and sealed objects.
Algorithm Used
The project uses an encryption algorithm called Data Encryption Standard (DES). Whenever a text file is selected to be encoded in the Image or the Audio file, it is first encrypted using the DES Algorithm and then that file is sent to the receiver. The receiver in turn decrypts it using the same key, and thus gets the appropriate message. In a nutshell, the reason that we encrypt the message is :
Cryptography + Steganography = Secure Steganography
About DES:
Fundamentally DES performs only two operations on its input, bit shifting, and bit substitution. The key controls exactly how this process works. By doing these operations repeatedly and in a non-linear manner you end up with a result which cannot be used to retrieve the original without the key. DES works on 64 bits of data at a time. Each 64 bits of data is iterated on from 1 to 16 times (16 is the DES standard). For each iteration a 48 bit subset of the 56 bit key is fed into the encryption block represented by the dashed rectangle above. Decryption is the inverse of the encryption process.
Conclusion:
The project was completed successfully to build a tool called – Hiding in Plain Sight. This tool can be used for hiding the text message in the image or the audio files. Also, the message that is sent can be encrypted, so as to support secure steganography. Regardless, the technology called steganography is easy to use and difficult to detect. The more that you know about its features and functionality, the more ahead you will be in the game.