A New Blended Approach of Data Hiding Using XNOR Operation

Abstract

This paper proposed a new data hiding technique which uses a blended approach of security. It uses a blend of cryptography and steganography at the same time to provide two layers of security. At first, data is encrypted using Rail Fence cryptography algorithm and at the second level the encrypted data is inserted into an image by using insertion algorithm based on XNOR operation. Encrypted bits are put into the pixels of the image which becomes a difficult task for the attackers to find the hidden data. In this approach, the concept of spatial domain is used for hiding the message and retrieval of message. The preliminary experimental results based on PSNR, MSE, Histogram and Coefficient of Correlation show that the proposed method provides better imperceptibility and hiding capacity. It was also compared with some trade off methods on the basis of various metrics. It also provides very less deflection in cover image so that it becomes very difficult for a third person to differentiate between cover image and stego image. ImageData HidingSteganographyCryptography