ISSN: 2277 9043

International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Electronics Engineering

Volume 1, Issue 2, April 2012

95
All Rights Reserved 2012 IJARCSEE



Abstract With the development of science, digital media
can be transmitted conveniently over the internet. The security
of the data is essential issue for the internet. The security of
information can be achieved by cryptography and
steganography. Cryptography scrambles the data to hides the
contents of message. Steganography hides the existence of
message by embedding data in some other digital media like
image or audio files. The paper proposes a security method
which uses both encryption and data hiding. In proposed system
data is firstly encrypted using RSA encryption algorithm and
then embedded in an image using Haar-DWT based
steganographic method. The experimental result shows that
proposed system has better PSNR value and high capacity in
comparison to other techniques like LSB and LSB-DCT
steganography.

Index Terms data hiding, discrete wavelet transform, RSA
encryption, steganography.

I. INTRODUCTION
In this information era, either a public network or private
network, one requires a tool that can allow communicating
over these channels and as well providing the security and
robustness of the hiding data. Encryption and steganography
are the preferred techniques for protecting the transmitted
data. In Cryptography, the data is encrypted so that it cannot
be understood by anyone else. The encrypted data is
unreadable but is not hidden from the eavesdroppers. Though
the purpose of cryptography is to protect the data (or
information) from unwanted attackers, it does not ensure
covertness on the channel. The commonly used encryption
schemes include DES (Data Encryption Standard) [1], AES
(Advanced Encryption Standard) [2] and RSA [3]. DES, an
encryption standard that was used by many national
governments, successfully withstood attacks for many years.
However, E. Biham and A. Shamir mention a cryptanalytic
attack that can break DES in only a few minutes. Another
example of a broken encryption algorithm is WEP. WEP was
designed to provide confidentiality to users on wireless
networks. [3] Illustrates how WEP can be broken within

Manuscript received April 15, 2012..

Mohit Kumar Goel, Electronics and Elecrical Communication
Department, PEC University of Technology, Chandigarh, India ,


Dr. Neelu Jain, Electronics and Elecrical Communication Department,
PEC University of Technology, Chandigarh, India,
hours. DES and WEP are examples of two encryption
algorithms that were thought to be secure at the time of their
design, but were broken in the future when attackers had
more powerful computational resources. However,
encryption clearly marks a message as containing
interesting information, and the encrypted message
becomes subject to attack. So, in many cases it is desirable to
send information without being notice by anyone that
information has been sent. The Steganography solves this
problem by embedding data in the cover object so that it is
hard to detect. The word steganography in Greek means
covered writing (Greek words stegos meaning cover
and grafia meaning writing). Steganography differs from
cryptography in the sense that where cryptography focuses
on concealing the contents of a message, steganography
focuses on concealing the existence of a message. Image
steganography schemes can be divided into two categories:
Spatial Domain and Frequency Domain.
A. Spatial domain steganography
In spatial domain steganography data is embedded directly
in image pixels [4].Least Significant Bit (LSB) is the first
most widely used spatial domain steganography technique. It
hides the message in the LSB of the image pixels [5]. But the
problem with this technique is that if the image is compressed
then the embedded data may be lost. LSB has been improved
by using a Pseudo Random Number Generator (PRNG) and a
secret key in order to have private access to the embedded
information [6]. Another recent improvement based on
random distribution of the message was introduced by M.
Bani Younes and A. Jantan [7]. In this method they utilize an
encryption key to hide information about horizontal and
vertical blocks where the secret message bits are randomly
concealed. Modulus arithmetic steganography proposed by
Sayuthi Jaafar and Azizah A Manaf has calculated last four
bits of each pixel by mod-16 operation. Then these bits are
replaced with data bits [8]. In this the amount of the data that
can be embedded is more but stego image has less PSNR
value than LSB and SSB-4 techniques.
B. Frequency domain steganography
In frequency domain, images are first transformed and
then the message is embedded in the image [9]. When the
data is embedded in frequency domain, the hidden data
resides in more robust areas, spread across the entire image,
and provides better resistance against statistical attacks.
There are many techniques used to transform image from
spatial domain to frequency domain. The most common
A RSA- DWT Based Visual Cryptographic
Steganogrphy Technique
Mohit Kumar Goel, Dr. Neelu Jain
ISSN: 2277 9043
International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Electronics Engineering
Volume 1, Issue 2, April 2012

96

frequency domain method usually used in image processing
is the 2D discrete cosine transform (DCT) [10][11] and 2D
discrete wavelet transform[12]. In DCT steganography the
image is divided into 88 blocks and DCT transformation on
each block is performed. The data bits are embedded in the
low frequency coefficients of DCT. SSB-4 & DCT
steganography proposed by Nedal M. S. Kafri and Hani Y
Suleiman uses DCT approach with SSB-4 technique [11].
The DWT steganography uses both images spatial as well as
frequency characterstics. DWT divides the image in four sub
bands (LL, LH, HL and HH) and then data can be embedded
in coefficients of one of the selected sub band.
Steganography with cryptography can be combined so
that, even if an attacker does realize that a message is sent, he
would still have to decode it [13]. Piyush Marwaha and
Paresh Marwaha use DES encryption and LSB
steganography for data security [14]. In this paper we
propose a method which uses RSA encryption and DWT
steganography for data security.
Security and robustness are the main aspects affecting
steganography and its usefulness. Security relates to the
ability of an eavesdropper to figure the hidden information
easily. Robustness is concerned about the resist possibility of
modifying or destroying the unseen data.
C. PSNR (Peak Signal to Noise Ratio)
PSNR computes the peak signal to noise ratio, in decibels,
between two images. This ratio is used as quality
measurement between two images. To calculate PSNR; first
MSE is calculated as follows:
) 1 ( ) , ( ) , (
1
2
1
0
1
0

=
=
m
i
n
j
j i K j i I
mn
MSE

Where MSE is the Mean Squared Error of Original image
(I) and stego image (K). Thereafter PSNR value is calculated
as follow:
) 2 ( log . 20 log . 10
10
2
10
|
.
|

\
|
=
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
MSE
MAX
MSE
MAX
PSNR
i i

Where, MAX
i
is the maximum pixel value of the image. In
other words MAX
i
= 2
b
1, where b is the bit depth of the
original image. The larger PSNR indicates the higher the
image quality i.e. there is only little difference between the
cover-image and the stego-image. On the other hand, a
smaller PSNR means there is huge distortion between the
cover-image and the stegoimage.
II. BACKGROUND OF CRYPTOGRPHY
In cryptography, the message is scrambled to make it
meaningless and unintelligible unless the decryption key is
available. It makes no attempt to disguise or hide the encoded
message. Basically, cryptography offers the ability of
transmitting information between persons in a way that
prevents a third party from reading it. Cryptography can also
provide authentication for verifying the identity of someone
or something. There are several ways of classifying
cryptographic algorithms. The three types of algorithms are:
1) Secret Key Cryptography: Uses a single key for both
encryption and decryption.
2) Public Key Cryptography: Uses one key for
encryption and another for decryption.
3) Hash Functions: Uses a mathematical transformation
to irreversibly encrypt information.
A. RSA encryption algorithm
RSA is a Public key cryptography named after its
inventors: Ronald Rivest, Adi Shamir and Leonard Adleman.
RSA can be used for encryption as well as for authentication
[3]. An example of Alice and Bob, who want to use
asymmetric RSA algorithm for secure communication is
shown in fig. 1. For encryption purpose, Alice would encrypt
the message using Bobs Public key and send the cipher text
to Bob. Upon receiving the cipher text, Bob, who is owner of
corresponding private key, can then decrypt the message with
his private key. For authentication purposes, Alice would
encrypt (or sign) the message using her own private key.
Other people such as Bob can verify the authenticity of the
message by using Alices Public key, which is the only key
that matches the signing private key.

Fig. 1 RSA Encryption
The steps for RSA algorithm are:
1) Select two prime numbers r, s.
2) Calculate n= r s and (n)= (r-1)(s-1)
3) Select integer e such that e is relatively prime to
(n).
gcd ( (n),e)=1; 1<e < (n)
4) Calculate d such that d e=1mod( (n))
5) Now Public key (PU) for encryption is {e, n} and
Private Key (PR) for decryption is {d, n}.
6) At sender side, message (M) is converted into cipher
text (C) as follows:
C= M
e
mod n (3)
7) At receiver side, cipher text is converted back to
original message as follows:
M= C
d
mod n (4)
III. HAAR- DWT TRANSFORM
Wavelets are special functions which (in a form
analogous to sins and cosines in Fourier analysis) are used
as basal functions for representing signals. In addition to
being an efficient, highly intuitive framework for the

ISSN: 2277 9043
International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Electronics Engineering
Volume 1, Issue 2, April 2012

97
All Rights Reserved 2012 IJARCSEE


representation and storage of multiresolution images, the
DWT provides powerful insight into an images spatial and
frequency characteristics. The fourier transform and DCT,
on other hand, reveal only images frequency attributes.
The discrete wavelet transform (DWT) used in this paper is
Haar-DWT, the simplest DWT. A 2-dimensional
Haar-DWT consists of two operations which are described
as follows:
Step 1: Scan the pixels from left to right in horizontal
direction and perform the addition and subtraction
operations on neighboring pixels. Store the sum on the left
and the difference on the right as shown in Figure 2. Repeat
this operation until all the rows are processed. The pixel
sums represent the low frequency part (denoted as symbol
L) while the pixel differences represent the high frequency
part of the original image (denoted as symbol H).

Fig. 2 The horizontal operation on the first row
Step 2: Scan the pixels from top to bottom in vertical
direction and perform the addition and subtraction operations
on neighboring pixels. Then store the sum on the top and the
difference on the bottom as illustrated in Figure 3. Repeat this
operation until all the columns are processed. Finally 4
sub-bands denoted as LL, HL, LH, and HH respectively are
obtained. The LL sub-band is the low frequency portion and
hence looks very similar to the original image.

Fig. 3 The vertical operation
The first-order 2-D Haar-DWT applied on the image
woman is illustrated in Fig 4.

Fig. 4 Haar DWT Operation
IV. PROPOSED METHOD
The challenge in this work was to find a way to
camouflage a secret message in an image without perceptible
degrading the image quality and to provide better resistance
against steganalysis process. The data is first converted into
cipher text using RSA encryption and the hided into lower
frequency component of image using Haar-DWT
steganography.

Fig. 5 Proposed Method
A. Embedding algorithm
Steps of embedding algorithm are given as follow:
Input: An MN size cover image and data to be concealed.
Output: Stego image.
1) Encrypt the plain text using RSA encryption key.
2) Perform Haar-DWT transform on cover image to
decompose it into four sub bands (LL, LH, HL and
HH).
3) Apply mod2 operation on coefficients (P
i
) of selected
sub band (LH) and modify it to hide data (m
i
) in
following way:
Q
i
= mod2 (P
i
)
a) If Q
i
is 0 i.e. P
i
is even then
Modified coefficients MP
i
= P
i
+ m
i
or
b) If Q
i
is 1 i.e. P
i
is odd then
Modified coefficients MP
i
= (P
i
-1) + m
i

4) Four sub bands including modified sub band are
combined to generate stego image using Haar-
IDWT transform.
5) Send the stego image to receiver.
B. Extraction algorithm
Steps for extraction algorithm are given as follows:
Input: An MN size Stego image.
Output: Secret message.
ISSN: 2277 9043
International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Electronics Engineering
Volume 1, Issue 2, April 2012

98

1) Perform Haar-DWT transform on stego image to
decompose it into four sub bands (LL, LH, HL and
HH).
2) Apply mod2 operation on coefficients (P
i
) of selected
sub band (LH) to extract data (m
i
) in following way:
Q
i
= mod2 (P
i
)
Message bit m
i
= Q
i

3) Concatenate the message bits to obtain cipher message.
4) Decrypt the cipher message using RSA decryption keys
and display it on screen.

V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
Since the visual detection of stego images is depending on
the nature of the image [15] so, varieties of image categories
are utilized in the experiments. The experimental image data
set consists of 100 JPEG images, which were taken by digital
camera. We focused on short messages with length of 3000
bits because they are the most challenging to detect [15].

(a) Original animal.jpg (b) Stego animal.jpg

(c) Original human.jpg (d) Stego human.jpg

(e) Original building.jpg (f) Stego building.jpg

(g) Original flower.jpg (h) Stego flower.jpg
Fig. 6 Original Images and Stego Images using DCT steganography
Comparative analysis of LSB, LSB-DCT, and proposed
method has been done on the basis of Peak signal to noise
ratio (PSNR). The comparative analysis of PSNR value of
different steanography technique, is given in table 1, shows
that proposed method of steganography has better image
quality of stego image than other techniques.
Table 1. Comparative analysis of PSNR values of different
steganography techniques
Image
PSNR Value
LSB LSB-DCT RSA & DWT
animal.jpg 52.62 54.66 55.87
human.jpg 53.31 55.24 57.36
building.jpg 53.12 54.46 56.52
flower.jpg 52.78 54.86 56.35
VI. CONCLUSION
In this paper we used a mixed approach cryptography and
steganography is used for data security. By using RSA
encryption, ASCII codes corresponding to characters of plain
text are converted into 16 bits encrypted codes. Hence it
becomes difficult to get original text without knowing
decryption keys. Then cipher data is hided into cover image.
Average PSNR value of 56 is obtained for 100 images using
proposed method. The obtained experimental results indicate
that, the proposed method is a good and acceptable scheme
for data security. Furthermore, by embedding information in
the least significant bits of the DWT domain, the hidden
message resides in more robust areas, spread across the entire
stego image, and provides better resistance against statistical
attacks than other techniques. The future work may focus on
the improvement and further development in this technique.
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ISSN: 2277 9043
International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Electronics Engineering
Volume 1, Issue 2, April 2012

99
All Rights Reserved 2012 IJARCSEE


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