1.

Lossless Compression and information hiding in images using

Steganography
Abstract:
In this paper a novel method is proposed to provide more security for the key
information with the combination of image compression and data encryption method.
This method requires less memory space and fast transmission rate because of image
compression technique is applied. Steganography plays an important role in information
security. It is the art of hiding the fact that communication is takes place, by hiding
information in other information. Many different file formats can be used. For hiding
secret information in images, there exist a large variety of stenographic techniques
some are more complex than others and all of them have respective strong and weak
points. Many applications have different requirements of the steganography technique
used. Some applications may use absolute invisibility of the secret information, but
others require a larger secret message to be hidden. This method has been implemented
and tested on varies images and data. It provides better security for encrypted data and
no distortion in the image quality.
Existing System
There are a large number of steganographic methods that most of us are familiar
with, ranging from invisible ink and microdots to secreting a hidden message in the
second letter of each word of a large body of text and spread spectrum radio
communication. With computers and networks, there are many other ways of hiding
information, such as:
Covert channels (e.g., Loki and some distributed denial-of-service tools use the
Internet Control Message Protocol, or ICMP, as the communications channel between the
"bad guy" and a compromised system)
Hidden text within Web pages
Hiding files in "plain sight" (e.g., what better place to "hide" a file than with an
important sounding name in the c:\winnt\system32 directory?)
Null ciphers (e.g., using the first letter of each word to form a hidden message in an
otherwise innocuous text)
Steganography today, however, is significantly more sophisticated than the
examples above suggest, allowing a user to hide large amounts of information within
image and audio files. These forms of steganography often are used in conjunction with
cryptography so that the information is doubly protected; first it is encrypted and then
hidden so that an adversary has to first find the information (an often difficult task in
and of itself) and then decrypt it.
Disadvantages
Normally must use the original program to hide and reveal data
If the picture with the hidden information is converted to another format, then the
hidden data may be lost.

Proposed System
To a computer, an image is a collection of numbers that constitute different light
intensities in different areas of the image. The numeric value representation forms a grid
and the individual points are referred to as pixels. Image is the most popular cover
objects used for steganography. In the domain of digital images many different image
file formats exist, most of them for specific applications. For these different image file
formats, different stenographic algorithms exist. Image steganography techniques can
be divided into two groups: those in the Image Domain and those in the Transform
Domain. Image also known as spatial domain techniques embed messages in the
intensity of the pixels directly, while for
Transform also known as frequency domain, images are first transformed and then
the message is embedded in the image. Image domain techniques encompass bit-wise
methods that apply bit insertion and noise manipulation and are sometimes
characterized as simple systems. The image formats that are most suitable for image
domain steganography are lossless and the techniques are typically dependent on the
image format. Steganography in the transform domain involves the manipulation of
algorithms and image transforms. These methods are used to hide messages in more
significant areas of the image, making it more robust. Many transform domain methods
are independent of the image format and the embedded message may survive
conversion between loss and lossless compression.


Advantages
Main purpose of steganography is to provide secret communication
Steganography has the advantage that even a talented code-cracker cannot decipher
a message without knowing it is there.
Steganography is beneficial for securely storing sensitive data, such as hiding system
passwords or keys within other files.
Data Flow Diagram:
Embedded file:



Compressed





Retrieve File:










Project Description:
The simplest approach to hiding data within an image file is called Least
Significant bit (LSB) insertion. In this method, we can take the binary
representation of the hidden data and overwrite the LSB of each byte within
the cover image. If we are using 24-bit color, the amount of change will be
minimal and indiscernible to the human eye. As an example, suppose that
we have three adjacent pixels (nine bytes) with the following RGB
encoding:
10010101 00001101 11001001
10010110 00001111 11001010
Master
file
Using Public
keys
Compressed file output file
Data file
Retrieve
Data file
View Data
File
Using Public
keys
Compressed file
10011111 00010000 11001011
Now suppose we want to "hide" the following 9 bits of data (the hidden data is
usually compressed prior to being hidden): 101101101. If we overlay these 9 bits
over the LSB of the 9 bytes above, we get the following (where bits in bold have
been changed):

10010101 00001100 11001001
10010111 00001110 11001011
10011111 00010000 11001011

Note that we have successfully hidden 9 bits but at a cost of only changing 4, or
roughly 50%, of the LSBs.
The following formula provides a very generic description of the pieces of the
steganographic process:
Cover medium + hidden data + stego_key = stego_medium
In this context, the cover medium is the file in which we will hide the hidden
data, which may also be encrypted using the stego key. The resultant file is the
stego medium (which will, of course. be the same type of file as the cover
medium). The cover mediums (and, thus, the stego_medium) are typically
image or audio files. In this article, I will focus on image files and will,
therefore, refer to the cover image and stego image.

Software Requirements:

Operating System : Windows XP
Front End : Java Swing
Programming tool : net beans

Hardware Requirements:


Processor : Intel Pentium IV
Cache Memory : 1MB
HDD : 40 GB
RAM : 512 MB
Processor Speed : 600 MHz
Display Type : VGA
Mouse : Logitech
Monitor : 15 Samsung Color Monitor