Steganography

2011-2012

1. INTRODUCTION
Steganography is the art and science of writing hidden message such as text, message, image etc in such a way that no one, apart from the sender and intended recipient, suspects the existence of the message. Internet and other peer to peer communication networks though have aggrandized the digital communications; have turned a blind eye to the privacy of its users. With communication technologies defining new pinnacles every day and peoples iniquity sky rocketing, there is a direct need to safeguard the power house of intelligence, which amasses a great deal of valuable information. Researchers under the aegis of computer security, information security and information assurance are cerebrating new algorithms to combat illicit attacks and protect the information they store, process and transmit. Steganography one such algorithm, involves communicating secret data in an appropriate multimedia carrier, e.g., image, audio, and video files. Image steganography, of all has gained much impetus and reputation in the recent past years. It comes under the general assumption that if the feature is visible, the point of attack is evident. Thus the goal here is to always conceal the coherence of the embedded data. The basic model of secret key steganography consists of cover, secret data, stego image and key. Any digital file such as image , video, audio, etc can be used as cover. Cover is also known as cover-object or cover image, is the plain digital image with no secret data deposited in it. After the embedment it is called the stego image or stego object .In image steganography the critical data is camouflaged in a cover image with immense dexterity.

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Steganography

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1. GENERAL INFORMATION
Some of the other objectives which are of equal concern are undetectability, robustness (resistance to various image processing methods and compression) and capacity of the hidden data. These factors distinguish it from counterparts such as watermarking and cryptography . Capacity refers to the amount of information that can be hidden in the cover object, secure from an eavesdroppers ability to detect hidden information, and robustness is to the amount of modification the stego object can withstand before an adversary can destroy hidden information. Image Steganography includes several techniques to embark the payload within the cover image. The most popular hiding techniques are Spatial Domain based Steganographic Techniques and Transform Domain based Steganographic Techniques. Spatial domain based steganography includes the Least Significant Bit (LSB) technique, Pixel value differencing, etc and the latter includes DCT DWT and IWT A useful, practical steganographic method should be robust and should retain the hidden data even after many pixel values have been modified. One approach to this problem is to transform the image and embed the data in the transformed pixels.We say that the original image exists in the spatial domain and the transformed image in the transformed domain. The data is then embedded in the transformed pixels and the image is transformed back to the spatial domain. The idea is that the image may now be exposed to various operations that will change the pixels, but when this modified image is transformed again, the hidden data will still be embedded in the transformed pixels. The disadvantage of the DCT based steganographic technique is the hiding capacity. Contemporary researchers are directed to use DWT, since it is used in the new image compression format JPEG2000 and MPEG4. Techniques that use DWT found in Wavelet transform based stego technique provides high capacity as much as possible. In the secret message is embedded into the high frequency and low frequency coefficients of the wavelet transform to high hiding capacity, but it provides less PSNR at high hiding rate. In this paper we propose a new modified version of the methodology in which can embed a larger amount of data in integer wavelet transform (IWT) domain with high PSNR. 2.1 STEGANOGRAPHIC PROCESS Steganography is used to hide a secret message within a cover image, thereby yielding a stego image such that even the trace of the presence of secret information is wiped out. The purpose of steganography is to maintain secret communication between two users.

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Steganography has several technical challenges namely high hiding capacity and imperceptibility. In this paper we propose a modern steganographic technique with Integer Wavelet transform (IWT) and double key to achieve high hiding capacity, high security and good visual quality. Here cover image is converted in to wavelet transform co-efficients and the coefficients are selected randomly by using Key-1 for embedding the data. Key-2 is used to calculate the number of bits to be embedded in the randomly selected coefficients. Finally the Optimum Pixel Adjustment Process(OPAP) is applied to the stego image to reduce the data embedding error. 2.2 How does it works: The two most common methods are LSB (Least Significant Byte) and Injection. Substitution - Altering/Replacing The LSB : Least important areas of the file can be replaced with the information that is to be hidden, with out significantly altering the file or damaging it. This allows a person to hide information in the file and make sure that no human could detect the change in the file. Injection : Injection is quite a simple method which simply involves directly injecting the secret information into the carrier file. The main problem with this method is that it can significantly increase the size of the carrier file.

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2. TRACES IN HISTORY
Existed in different forms and media Tattoos on scalp Dots on top of i and j Deliberate misspellings or Error Recent: Margaret Thatcher introducing modified word processors to trace press leaks 3.1 Disappearing Ink: In World War II, messages were included in normal correspondence by writing the hidden message between printed lines of text using milk, vinegar, fruit juices, and urine. These inks have the advantage of being readily available in the field, are colorless when dry, yet reappear when subjected to heat. More sophisticated inks require more complex chemistry in order to develop photographs.

3.2 Music: As an example, a "yes," "no," or signal to start might be communicated by the way a popular instrumental or song is initiated or terminated. An innocent phrase at the start or end of any communications such as a radio broadcast might be used to communicate information. Music is also an excellent vehicle for hiding complex drawings using the techniques described below (8) for using picture files as containers for other files.

3.3 Microdots: Microdots were developed by the Germans in World War II. The allies first discovered their use masquerading as a period on a typed envelope carried by a German spy in 1941. The original microdots were photographs about the size of a typed period and carried about a page of information. In addition to textual information, they could accommodate technical drawings and photographs. J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the FBI, has been quoted as referring to microdots as "the enemy's masterpiece of espionage." Microdots are small enough the information they contain can be transmitted without encryption or other means of concealment. The idea is they are so small, they will not be noticed when included as part of normal communications.

3.4 Tattoos: Tattoos have been employed for communications. Either on body parts not normally seen or that can be disguised, e.g., use of makeup. History records instances of shaving a servant or slaves head and applying a tattoo. After the hair had grown, the servant or slave became a living message carrier. The hair was shaved at the destination to retrieve the message.
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Steganography 3.5

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One of the earliest recorded uses of steganography is Demeratus notifying Sparta that

Xerxes planed to invade Greece. At the time, text was recorded on wooden tablets covered with wax. Demeratus had the wax removed from the wood. After writing the message on the wood, the tablets were again coated with wax. Sentries allowed the tablets to pass with other goods as they appeared to have never been used.

3.6 Drawings: Information has been concealed in drawings. Information carriers may be original engineering drawings, original art, or modified copies of popular art or engineering drawings. Lines may be thickened, shortened, or have their colors modified slightly. Some times the actual letters of the message have been integrated into the design. Throughout history, multitude of methods and variations have been used to hide information. David Kahn's The Codebreakers provides an excellent accounting of this history. Bruce Norman recounts numerous tales of cryptography and steganography during times of war in Secret Warfare: The Battle of Codes and Ciphers .One of the first documentsdescribing steganography is from the Histories of Herodotus. In ancient Greece, text was written on wax covered tablets. In one story Demeratus wanted to notify Sparta that Xerxes intended TOinvade Greece. To avoid capture, he scraped the wax off of the tablets and wrote a message on the underlying wood. He then covered the tablets with wax again. The tablets appeared to be blank and unused so they passed inspection by sentries without question. Another ingenious method was to shave the head of a messenger and tattoo a message or image on the messengers head. After allowing his hair to grow, the message would be undetected until the head was shaved again. Another common form of invisible writing is through the use of Invisible inks. Such inks were used with much success as recently as WWII. An innocent letter may contain a very different message written between the lines. Early in WWII steganographic technology consisted almost exclusively of invisible inks . Common sources for invisible inks are milk, vinegar, fruit juices and urine. All of these darken when heated. With the improvement of technology and the ease as to the decoding of these invisible inks, more sophisticated inks were developed which react to various chemicals. Some

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messagesBhad to be "developed" much as photographs are developed with a number of chemicals in processing labs. Null ciphers (unencrypted messages) were also used. The real message is "camouflaged" in an innocent sounding message. Due to the "sound" of many open coded messages, the suspect communications were detected by mail filters. However "innocent" messages were allowed to flow through.

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3. MODEL DESCRIPTION
4.1DESCRIPTION OF THE MODEL Steganography is a process that involves hiding a message in an appropriate carrier like image or audio. The carrier can be sent to a receiver without any one except the authenticated receiver only knows existence of the information. A message is embedded in a digital image (cover image) through an embedding algorithm, with the help of a secret key. The resulting stego image is transmitted over a channel to the receiver where it is processed by the extraction algorithm using the same key. During transmission the stego image, it can be monitored by unauthenticated viewers who will only notice the transmission of an image without discovering the existence of the hidden message. 4.2 DETAILED BLOCK DIAGRAM :

4.3 DESCRIPTION OF THE MODEL: Preprocessing includes R, G and B plane separation and Histogram modification. Then Integer wavelet transform is applied to the cover image to get wavelet coefficients. Wavelet coefficients are randomly selected by using key-2 for embedding the secret data. Key -2 is 8x8 binary matrix in which 1 represents data embedded in the corresponding wavelet coefficients and 0 represents no data present in the wavelet coefficients. Key-1(K1) is a decimal number varying from 1 to 4 and it will decide the number of bits to be embedded in
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the cover object. This bit length calculation is the modified version of one in [4]. High capacity is achieved by varying the key-1(K1) value. 4.4 EMBEDDING PROCEDURE : Read the cover image as a 2D file with size of 256256 pixels. R, G and B planes are separated Consider a secret data as text file. Here each character will take 8 bits. Histogram modification is done in all plane Each plane is divided into 88 blocks Apply Haar Integer wavelet transform to 8 8 blocks of all the planes, This process results in LL1, LH1, HL1 and HH1 sub bands Using Key-1(K1) calculate the Bit length(BL) for corresponding wavelet co-efficients (WC), Here we used modified version of Bit length calculation used in [4]. Using the following equation, we get the high capacity steganography.

Using key-2 select the position and coefficients for embedding the BL length data using LSB substitution[2]. Here data is embedded only in LH1,HL1and HH1 subbands.

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Take inverse wavelet transform to each 88 block and combine R,G&B plane to produce stego image.

4.5 EXTRACTION PROCEDURE: Read the Stego image as a 2D file with size of 256 256 pixels. R, G and B planes are separated Each plane is divided into 88 blocks. Apply Haar Integer wavelet transform to 88 blocks of all the planes, This process results LL1,LH1,HL1 and HH1 subbands. Using Key-1 calculate the Bit length(BL) for corresponding wavelet co-efficients(WC), using the BL equation used in Embedding procedure. Using key-2 select the position and coefficients for extracting the BL length data. Combine all the bits and divide it in to 8 bits to get the text message

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Steganography 4.6 REQUIREMENTS AND SOLUTIONS: Main Requirements/Features:

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Require the knowledge of Image processing in order to perform stegnographic model using wavelet transform. Require the knowledge of Matlab/Simulink, VHDL/Verilog, System generator and interfacing details of FPGA kit (Virtex-II Pro). Constraints and limitations: Steganography should provide the maximum possible payload, Embedded data must be imperceptible to the observer 4.7 HARDWARE, SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS: Virtex 2 Pro. ModelSim 6.2b. MATLAB R2010a/Simulink. Xilinx Project Navigator 10.1. ChipScope analyzer. 4.8 IMPLEMENTATION METHOD: Literature survey of stegnographic algorithms. Study of MATLAB/Simulink, System generator tool and interfacing details of Virtex II Pro. Develop an secure stegnographic model using integer wavelet transform in MATLAB R2010a. Implementations of stegnographic model on FPGA. 4.9 USES OF STEGANOGRAPHY Steganography one such algorithm, involves communicating secret data in an appropriate multimedia carrier, e.g., image, audio, and video files over the internetThe main purpose of steganography is to maintain secret communication between two users. Ex: Storing passwords and/or other confidential information Used by intelligence services(CBI, FBI).

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IS IMAGE STEGANOGRAPHY NATURAL?

Exponent

Exponent

Fig. 2. Joint histogram of areas model parameters (exponent and multiplying factor in the power law) for JPEG images and MHPDM stego images. Darker areas have a higher concentration of pairs of parameter values. We observe that stego images present a high concentration in regions where natural images do, also.

Fig. Histogram of areas model parameters (exponent and multiplying factor in the power law) for JPEG images and MHPDM stego images. We observe thatthe distributions of parameter values is similar in both classes.

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5. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

The advantages are that the hidden text doesn't stand out. It can be passed in innocuous content like an image. By making some slight changes to color values, for example, you can transmit a few bits here and there that are practically undetectable. The downside usually includes things like size and protection. You usually have to send much more padding around your secret text so that your secret text doesn't stand out. If you're only sending something simple like GPS coordinates or an email address, that's fine. But if you have a long document (e.g., a book) that you want to hide with steganography, it's pretty hard.

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6. CONCLUSION
Data hiding using steganography has two primary objectives firstly that steganography should provide the maximum possible payload, and the second, embedded data must be imperceptible to the observer. It should be stressed on the fact that steganography is not meant to be robust. It was found that the proposed method gives high payload (capacity) in the cover image with very little error. . This is of course on the expense of reducing PSNR and increasing the MSE. By modifying the equation to get high capacity for the various applications using wavelet transform, Key-1 and Key-2 provides high security. The drawback of the proposed method is the computational overhead. This can be reduced by high speed computers.

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7. FUTURE ENHANCEMENT
The drawback of the proposed method is the computational overhead. This can be reduced by high speed computers

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8. REFERENCES
[1] Bhattacharyya, S.; Kshitij, A.P.; Sanyal, G.; A Novel Approach to Develop a SecureImage based Steganographic Model using Integer Wavelet Transform 2011 IEEE [2] Xiaoming Yao, Wencai Du, Weihua Wu, Mei Huang A Robust EMD-like Stegnographic Scheme 2010 IEEE [3] Zhai Lang, Hu Qi, The Research of Double-biometric Identification Technology Based on Handprints 2010 IEEE [4] A. Brown. (1994) S-Tools for Windows. [Online]. Available: ftp://ftp.ntua.gr/pub/crypt/mirrors/idea.sec.dsi.unimi.it/code/s-tools4.zip

[5] D. Upham. JPEG-JSTEGModifications of the Independent JPEG Groups JPEG Software for 1-Bit Steganography in JFIF Output Files. [Online]. Available: ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/crypt/steganography/

[6] N. F. Johnson, Z. Duric, and S. G. Jajodia, Information Hiding: Steganography and WatermarkingAttacks and Countermeasures. Norwell, MA: Kluwer, 2001.

[7] P. Wayner, Disappearing Cryptography, Second EditionInformation Hiding: Steganography and Watermarking. San Mateo, CA: Morgan Kaufmann, 2002.

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