Image Encryption and Decryption

Using AES and Steganography

Terminologies

Encryption - The process of transforming
information (plaintext) using an
algorithm (called a cipher) to make it
unreadable to anyone except those
possessing special knowledge, usually
referred to as a key.


Terminologies( contd)
Steganography - It is the art of hiding the fact
that communication is taking place, by hiding
information in other information. Many
different carrier file formats can be used, but
digital images are the most popular because
of their frequency on the internet. Different
applications may require absolute invisibility
of the secret information, while others require
a large secret message to be hidden.
Terminologies( contd)
Decryption :- It is the process of decoding
encrypted information so that is can be
accessed again by authorized users.
It is generally the reverse process
of encryption. It is the process of decoding
the data which has been encrypted into a
secret format. An authorized user can only
decrypt data because decryption requires a
secret key or password.
Why Do We Need
Encryption
To safely and securely transfer images for
the following uses:

1.) Military
2.) Health Care
3.) Mapping and Positioning
4.) Picture messaging on Cell Phones
5.) Privacy
6.) Government Documents


Need of Stenography
Nowadays, information is rapidly available
through the Internet. Companies have the
ability to communicate with a worldwide
audience through the World Wide Web.

So Information hiding techniques are
received increasing attention due to :
a. the availability of multimedia and digital form
objects.
b. and the need to present solutions to
criminal copying and copyright problems.

Motivation
As we know, cryptography and
steganography have been known for
many years. We can encrypt data, but it
will be exposed while transferring. On
the other hand, we can hide data into a
common object, but if someone extracts
it, he/she can get the information easily.
Therefore, my idea is to apply both of
them, so in case one gets the
embedded stuff, s/he will face an
encrypted data.


Project Idea
To combine two security techniques

1. Cryptography (For Encryption & Decryption)

2. Steganography(For Data hiding in a
multimedia object)


Why to do so?
Hiding data is better than moving it
shown and encrypted.
To hide data in a popular object that will
not attract any attention.
In case the data is extracted, it will be
encrypted.

Cryptography
The science of using mathematics to
encrypt and decrypt data. It enables
you to send sensitive information
across insecure networks (such as
the Internet).

Advanced Encryption Standard
Advanced Encryption Standard. (AES)
Benefits:
1. Very Secure.
2. Reasonable Cost.
3. Main Characteristics:
I. Flexibility.
II. Simplicity.

Algorithm Steps
Sub-Bytes.
Shift rows.
Mix columns.
Add round key.

Steganography
Hiding a secret message within a larger
object in such a way that others can not
discern the presence of the hidden
message.
In this project, We use a JPEG image as a
cover object.
Images can contain enough information to
hide, while not appearing to be modified.
It is common enough to not attract any
attention.

Steganographic Techniques:
The Least Significant Bit (LSB):
modifying the rightmost bit in each byte
by replacing it with a bit from the secret
message.
Why LSB?
Designed for images that have 3 or 4
bytes per pixel.
When changing 4 bits in a 4-byte pixel,
the change is about 1 / billion.



Improvement in Simple LSB
1. Randomization of inserting the secret
message bits into the image.
Developed a function that generates a
random offset from the set {2,4,6}, then
spreads the message bits according to
that offset. e.g. Suppose that the offset
is 4, then the program will insert the
first bit in byte 1, the second bit in byte
5, the third in byte 9 and so on. After
reaching certain end, loop back starting
from byte 2 then 6, 10, and so on

Improvements( contd)
2. Adding SHA-1 hash for the secret
message.
The program calculates an sha-hash
for the secret message in the hiding
stage, and checks this value when
retrieving the hidden message.
Therefore, it can detect any attempt to
modify the message content.

Hiding Variable values in Image
The program creates a header for these
variables, and reserves the first 70 bytes
for that header to insert it after
encrypting it. Then it inserts the
encrypted message starting from byte
71.

On the recipient side, the program reads
the first 70 bytes, decrypts them, and
gets the variables values to use them to
extract the hidden message.

Program Sequence
Hiding Revealing
Select a image.
Enter a message and a
cipher key
Encrypting message.
Hiding it in the selected
image.
Select a image (Stego
object).
Enter the cipher key.
Extracting encrypted
data from the image.
Decrypting and showing
the message.

Thanks
Prerak

10100EN005
Arpan

10100EN017