Concealment of Secret Information in Digital LSB Steganography in Colour and Grey Scale Images

Abstract

Modern communication system needs an exceptional way of security, especially on computer networks. The network security is becoming more paramount as the number of data being exchanged on the internet increases. Steganography is the art of hiding information in a cover image without causing statistically significant variations to the cover image. Different types of carrier file formats can be used, but digital images are the most popular ones because of their frequency on the internet. This research work gives an overview of image steganography, it’s uses and techniques, basically, to store confidential information within images such as details of working strategy, secret missions, criminal and confidential information in various organizations that work for national security such as military, FBI, DSS, Nigerian police etc. The desktop application has been developed that incorporates Advanced Encryption Standard for encryption of the original message, and Spatially Desynchronized Steganography Algorithm for hiding the text file inside the image. Least Significant Bit (LSB) technique was used in hiding messages in an image. The system enhanced the LSB technique by randomly dispersing the bits of the message in the image and thus making it harder for steganalyst to extract the original message. Keywords:. LSB, Cryptography, Encryption, Image Processing, Security