Secure data hiding using steganographic technique with Visual cryptography and watermarking scheme

Abstract

The Visual cryptography scheme (VCS) is a secure method that encrypts a secret image into shares. The key idea behind the proposed approach deals with information hiding in image using Zig-Zag scanning pattern which is more complex algorithm in Steganography again encrypted as shares by VC technique for embedding in separate host images to provide authentication for the VC shares which makes these secret shares invisible by embedding them into host images. The secret shares generated from VC encryption are watermarked into some host images using digital watermarking. Digital watermarking is used for providing the double security of image shares. The share is embedded into the host image using Least Significant Bit Insertion Technique (LSB). The scheme provides more secure and meaningful secret shares that are robust against a number of attacks. The performance of the proposed system is evaluated using peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR), histogram analysis and also numerical experimentation suggests that embedding time varies linearly with message length. The simulation results show that, the proposed system provides high level of security.