A New Wavelet Based Steganography Method for Securing Medical Data

Abstract

The transmission of confidential information over an open communication channel is susceptible to many threats like copyright infringement, eavesdropping and hacking. In this paper, we propose a solution combining data encryption techniques and multiscale signal analysis for securing patients’ confidential data. Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) is first applied to an ECG signal. The confidential patient information and the electrocardiogram (ECG) signal are then encrypted with the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) method. Finally, the output of the encryption is hidden in an image to form the stego image and transferred to a medical server. While cryptography ensures the confidentiality of the data modified by the encryption process, steganography enhance the security. The evaluation of the proposed system was performed with real data and quantitative parameters such as Percent Residual Difference (PRD), Mean Squared Error (MSE) and Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR). The experimental results show the proposed scheme has a good encryption effect and a strong ability to resist detection compared with the existing methods.