CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Currently, the digital information revolution has brought significant

changes in our society and daily routines. In line with the revolution, Internet and

wireless network offer ubiquitous channels to deliver and exchange information.

Therefore, public information exchange is secured by using an encryption method

where a secret data can be encrypted to prevent the content from being

intercepted. However, with the technological advancement of information

security, most Internet users are not aware that sending encrypted messages

will draw unnecessary attention to malicious black hats such as crackers and

hackers. This is because the encrypted data appears as a string of gibberish data

that might arouse suspicion. Moreover, there is a possibility of illegal exploitation

attempts to the vulnerability of the encrypted messages due to curiosity and

inquisitiveness of a hacker. As a result, the secret data which has been encrypted

could be illegally intercepted, unauthorized tampered or even damaged during

data transmission.

In order to alleviate the issue mentioned above, steganography is introduced

as an alternative design to conceal a secret data into an unsuspicious cover-object so

1
that it can be sent stealthily through a public communication channel without

drawing any unnecessary attention of the black hats.

Steganography is derived from the findings of Johannes Trithemus (1462-

1516) entitled Steganographia which comes from the Greek words (στεγανό-

ς, γραυ-ειν), steganos literally means “covered”; and graphia means “writing”.

Eventually the entire definition is defined as covered writing (Petitcolas et al.,

1999).

1.2 STATEMENTS OF THE PROBLEM

Over the years, numerous steganographic techniques that embed secret data

into cover-objects such as image, audio, video etc. have been invented and

implemented. However, in the current image-based steganographic technology,

there are several problems that arise due to:

i. Distortion produced in a stego-image after embedding a secret data.

There are certain existing schemes such as Hide and Seek 4.1 and Hide in the

Picture 2.1which result in a distorted stego-image after embedding a secret data. Due

to this factor, the stego-image produced is able to raise suspicion and can be

clearly distinguished by an attacker. Thus, researches on alleviating the

distortion problem in the stego-image need to be carried out.

2
ii. There is a restriction on embedding certain file types during

selection of secret data.

A stenographic scheme is not feasible for users if the secret data is restricted

to only a few data types, for instance, text, document and image file only. Some

stenographic schemes such as Gifshuffle v2.0 and EzStego only allow certain types

of secret data, for instance, text and document file to be embedded (Bailey and

Curran, 2006). As a result, the study on embedding other files extension need to be

explored to ease the restriction.

iii. Limited capacity for embedding a secret data into the cover-image.

There are some existing stenographic tools which are encountering a

relatively limited payload. In SecurEngine Professional v1.0 alpha, the secret

data is required to be 30% of the cover-image size. In other words, a secret data

needs a cover which is three times larger to fulfil the embedding ratio of

1:3. As an example, a secret data which contains of 1MB needs to be embedded

in a 3MB cover. Besides, StegoMagic 1.0 has an embedding ratio of 1:8 by

limiting the user to hide only 12.5% of secret data inside the cover. Apparently,

there is a commercial stenographic tool named steganos Privacy Suite 2008

which consists of multiple features such as encryption, shredder, antivirus and

safes for data protection (Steganos GmbH, 2009), but only allows

approximately 13% (embedding ratio of 1:7.69) of secret data to be embedded in

3
the cover. The mentioned existing tools did not consider the aspect of

payload as the priority. Suspicion and curiosity obviously will arise when an

unreasonably large file is sent over the network during data transmission. Hence,

research on the improvement and optimization of the payload capacity is

essential to be carried out.

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTION

After understanding the problem statements which relate to the current trend

of steganographic development, several research questions have been

formulated as follows:

i. Which type of cover-image would be suitable for stenographic usage?

ii. What are the methods that can be used to embed a secret data into a cover-

image?

iii. What method can be used to retain the file size of a stego-image to

prevent unnecessary suspicion?

iv. What are the methods that can be used to embed all file formats?

1.4 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The primary objective of this dissertation is to develop a prototype which is

able to embed a secret data into a bitmap cover-image as well as alleviate

the above- mentioned issues which are the occurrence of a distorted stego-

4
image, file types restriction for a secret data and improvement of the payload. In

order to achieve the goal, several secondary objectives have been defined as

follows:

i. To study and analyze the image format which is compatible for

steganographic usage.

ii. To study and analyze the Least Significant Bit (LSB) substitution

mechanism.

iii. To analyze and evaluate the proposed algorithm in terms of (a) accuracy (b)

quality of stego-image produced (c) capacity of secret data which can be embedded

and (d) types of secret data which can be embedded.

1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of study in the proposed scheme includes the implementation

of a prototype which is able to

i. Embed various type of data file through the encoding and decoding process.

ii. Manipulate maximum LSB (list significant bit) in an embedding mechanism

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

Due to advances in ICT (information communication technology), most of

information is kept electronically. Consequently, the security of information has

become a fundamental issue. Besides cryptography, steganography can be

5
employed to secure information. In cryptography, the message or encrypted

message is embedded in a digital host before passing it through the network, thus

the existence of the message is unknown. Besides hiding data for confidentiality,

this approach of information hiding can be extended to copyright protection for

digital media: audio, video and images. The growing possibilities of modern

communications need the special means of security especially on computer

network. The network security is becoming more important as the number of data

being exchanged on the internet increases. Therefore, confidentiality and data

integrity are required to protect against unauthorized access and use. This has

resulted in an explosive growth of the field of information hiding.

1.7 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

This project has an assumption, that is both the sender and receiver must

have shared some secret information before imprisonment. Pure steganography

means that there is none prior information shared by two communication parties.

1.8 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS

There are some terminologies used in the field of steganography needed

to be presented:

Cover-object refers to an object used as a carrier to embed messages.

Many objects can be used as a cover, such as text, image, audio, HTML (Sui and

6
Luo, 2004), XML (Takizawa et al., 2001) and even TCP/IP (Ahsan and

Kundur, 2002). In the context of this research, the cover-object is a bitmap

image and thus it is defined as cover-image.

Stego-object refers to the object which carries a hidden message after the process of

data embedding. When given a cover-image, the secret message will be embedded

into the cover-image and produces a stego-image.

Stego-image refers to a cover-image which is embedded with secret data.

Steganalysis refers to the process of detecting a secret message by distinguishing

between cover-objects and stego-objects

7
 CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY

This chapter begins with a brief introduction followed by the history

of steganography that covered the differences between steganography,

cryptography and digital watermarking. Various cover image files have been

studied and analyzed for the usage of data hiding. Subsequently, the structure and

palette of a bitmap format have been explained. Finally, the LSB substitution

approaches are reviewed before revealing the chapter’s conclusion.

The first documented evidence about steganography being used to

send messages is in The Histories (Herodotus, 1996). The ancient story is about

Histiæus who sent his most trusted slave to the Ionian city of Miletus with a secret

message tattooed on his scalp. After tattooing, the slave grew his hair back in

order to conceal the message. Therefore, the purpose of tattooing was to

instigate a revolt against the Persians (Katzenbeisser and Petitcolas, 2000).

Besides, another evidence in regards with steganography by Herodotus is the

story of Demeratus who warned Sparta about the planned invasion of Greece by

the Persian Great King Xerxes. Demeratus scraped the wax off the surface of a

wooden writing tablet and wrote his message on the wood underneath and then

covered the message with wax. The tablet was then coated with a fresh layer of

8
wax to appear as a blank writing tablet that could be safely carried to Sparta

without arousing suspicion (Katzenbeisser and Petitcolas, 2000; Cox et

al.,2008). Later, Aeneas the Tactician (Tacticius,1990) proposed numerous

stenographic techniques such as hiding messages in women’s earrings or messages

carried by pigeons. Based on the literature in (Cox et al., 2008), another idea that

proposed by Brewster (1857) to shrink the hidden messages for not larger than a full

stop or small dot of ink. The shrinking technique was successfully realized by a

French photographer Dragon, during the Franco-Prussian War (1870 - 1871).

Apparently, microscopic images were hidden in ears, nostrils, and under fingernails.

In World War I, Brewster’s idea was used when secret messages sent by spies were

reduced to microdots and hidden in the corners of postcards slit open with a knife

and resealed with starch. In the twentieth-century, the modern microdots could hold

up to one page of text and even contain photographs (Cox et al., 2008).

Today, unlike the past, the boom of steganography coincides with the

appearance of the Internet especially when the shift to digitization of media (e.g.

digital documents, digital images, digital audio and so forth) in the computer

networks has created a very favorable environment for stenographic usage.

However, steganography has always been confused with cryptography by the

society.

9
2.2 CURRENT LITERATURE REVIEW

Regardless of the type of cover-objects being used all the typical

stenographic systems have one common and definite goal which is to hide

the presence of the information without causing distinguishable changes in the

cover-object. Several existing methods take advantage of weakness in the human

sensory systems by modifying the least significant bits in image or audio file

format in order to encode secret data. Based on (Huang et al., 2005), human

visual senses are not able to detect minimum amount of degradation. Therefore,

since LSB appears at the lowest order bit in a binary value, the substituted bits

only can be revealed with the aid of a computer program such as hex editor.

LSB approach is a mechanism where the last bit or up to the last four bits of

a color byte are selected to insert or substitute with the bits-wise dataset.

For image palette steganography, color pairs or adjacent colors are utilized to

encode data (Zhou et al., 2006). PVD stenographic method uses the difference

value between two pixels in a block to determine how many secret bits should be

embedded (Yang et al., 2007). Apparently, LSB is the only focal point in the

literature review that relates to the proposed mechanism. According to the

findings from the literatures (Liu et al., 2004), LSB approaches can be divided

into two main schemes which are sequential LSB embedding and random

(scattered) LSB embedding. The sequential LSB embedding replaces the LSBs

10
of the pixels with the message one by one sequentially. On the other hand, the

random LSB embedding scatters a message randomly over the entire image by a

random sequence to control process of data embedding. Liu et al., 2004 claimed

that through the random LSB replacement secret messages can be randomly

scattered in stego-images, so the security can be improved. However, under

certain circumstances, if the secret bits are substituted in the 6th or 7th bit

planes, the distinct changes of the color can be awfully detected by the

appearance of noise. After identifying the possible risk and drawback of the

random LSB embedding, the proposed scheme applies the sequential LSB

approach so that a secret data is converted into a form of bit-wise dataset,

thereafter substituted into the LSBs of the RGB color pixels up to four LSBs

based on the size of the secret data and the cover-image.

2.3 RELEVANT THEORIES OF THE REVIEW

When images are used as the cover-object in steganography, the cover-images

are generally manipulated by changing one or more of the bits of the byte or bytes

of the image. The secret data can be stored in the LSB of one color of the RGB color

byte (e.g. blue color) or in the parity of the entire RGB (Bailey and Curran, 2006).

Various bits in LSB steganography will be explained as follows

11
A. STEGO ONE BIT LSB

Stego one bit LSB approach only changes the last bit of the color byte. Therefore,

changing the LSB will only result in the change for the integer value of the byte by

one. By manipulating the LSB of one of the RGB color, the effect on the

appearance of the image is indiscernible.

B. STEGO TWO BITS LSB

Stego two bits are manipulating two LSBs of one of the colors in the RGB (red

green blue) value of the pixels to store bits of a secret data in the cover-image. The

advantage of stego two bits is, the information that can be embedded is twice than

the stego one bit. On the other hand, the degradation of the stego-image quality will

be slightly distinct than the stego-image that uses stego one bit (Bailey and Curran,

2006).

C. STEGO THREE BITS LSB

This method is using three LSBs of one of the colors in the RGB value to hide the

secret data in the cover-image. The advantage of manipulating three bits is,

the storage of hiding the secret data will be three times larger than stego one bit

(Bailey and Curran, 2006). On the other hand, the changes of the stego-image

after embedded secret data will relatively be more obvious than the mechanism of

stego two bits.

12
D. STEGO FOUR BITS LSB

This method involves using four LSBs of the colors in the RGB value of the pixels

to hide secret data. The changes of the stego-image after embedded secret data will

undeniably be more degraded than the mechanism of stego three bits.

E. STEGO COLOR CYCLE (SCC)

(Bailey and Curran, 2006) claimed that SCC (stego color cycle) is more difficult to

detect the presence of the hidden data when SCC is to rotate the RGB color values

to embed bits of the secret data. As a result, the same color is not constantly

being changed. For an instance, the first data bit could be hidden in the LSB of the

blue color byte, the LSB of the red color byte will store the second data bit and the

third data bit in the green value.

2.4 SUMMARY OF THE CHAPTER

The history of steganography was stated and the various LSB manipulation

techniques was shown in this chapter of the study.

13
 CHAPTER THREE

3.1 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

I carried my research by going online to get more information about steganography and

how to hide image with it. I made use of the café, data and Google to get the authors that

wrote about stegeography. Steganography; is the art of hiding data by (Kefa Rabah,

2004; Volumn 3, Issue 3, Page no-245-269 doi:10.3923/itj2064245269)

A User need to run the application. The user has two options; encrypt and decrypt. If user

selects encrypt, the application presents the screen to select image file, information file

and option to save the image file. If the user selects decrypt, the application presents the

screen to select only image file and ask for the path where the user wants to save the

secret file.

This project has two methods Encrypt and decrypt. In encryption, the secret information

is hidden within any type of image file.

Decryption is getting the secrete information from image file

Encryphon Decryphon

Image Message Image file

BMT Image file Image Message

14
3.2 SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN

Steganographic system requires any type of image file and the information or message

that is to be hidden. It has two modules, encrypt and decrypt. [Link] frame work

prepares a huge amount of tool and option for programmers that simplify programming.

One of the tools for picture and images is to convert most types of picture to BPM

format. This tools in this software cause “steganography” that is written in C# net

language and you can use this software to hide information of pictures without any

converting its format to BMP software concerts inside it.

The algorithm used for encryption and decryption in this application provides using

several layers of image. Significant of this upper layer is least and every upper layer has

doubled significant from it’s down layer. So every step, we go to upper layer image

equally decreases in size and image functioning transpires.

The encrypt module is used to hide formation into the image; no one can see that

information or file. This module requires any type of image and message and give the

only one image in destination.

The decrypt module is used to get the hidden information in an image file. It takes the

image file as an output, and gives file a destination folder, one is the same image and

another is the message file that is hidden in that image.

15
3.3 INPUT/OUTPUT DESIGN

The program would enable the user to do mainly two things which are encryption and

decryption, and a pictorial view of how the program would work is shown below.

3.3.1 INPUT DESIGN

The encryption module converts user text data into an image of ‘.BMP’ file format,

thereby making the information file invisible and arousing no suspicion of any hidden

data.

INFORMATION FILE BMP IMAGE

STEGO-IMAGE

ENCRYPTION PROCESS

16
3.3.2 OUTPUT DESIGN
The decryption module extracts the information file from [Link] file making it visible
to the authenticated user

STEGO-IMAGE

INFORMATION FILE IMAGE FILE

17
THE DECRYPTION PROCESS

3.4 INSTRUMENTATION/MATERIALS

In order to effectively carryout the design of the stenographic system some

hardware and software instruments was used to develop the software

18
3.4.1 HARDWARE REQUIREMENT

Processor- a mininum 1.5ghz or greater

Memory- a mininum 512mb or greater

Storage- a mininum of 20gb HDD or greater

3.4.2 SOFTWARE REQUIREMENT

OS- Microsoft 7 or greater

COMPILER- Microsoft Visual STUDIO C# (C-sharp)

19
 CHAPTER FOUR

PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION/DOCUMENTATION

4.0 CHOICE OF PROGRAMING LANGUAGE

Microsoft visual C#, pronounced as C Sharp, is a programming language

designed for building a wide range of application that run on the .NET framework.

C# is simple, powerful, type safe, and object oriented. With its many innovations,

C# enables rapid application development.

Visual studio support visual C# with a full featured:

 Code editor

 Project templates

 Designers

 Code wizard

 A powerful and easy – to – use debugger and other tools.

The NET framework class library provides access to a wide range of operating

system services and other useful well – designed classes that speed up the

development cycle significantly.

As an object oriented language, C# supports the concept of encapsulation,

inheritance, and polymorphism. All variable and methods including the main

methods, the applications entry point are encapsulated within class definitions.

20
A class may inherit directly from one parent class, but it may implement any

number of interfaces.

We can manipulate files and perform different operations on visual C# by using the

system .[Link] and system .[Link] Info classes. The system .[Link] class

exposes static methods to perform various operations on [Link] .[Link]

class, an object of type system. IO. File Info class represents a single file through

which we can get / set different properties of a file.

4.1 PROGRAM SPECIFICATION

There are two main functions which are known as Encryption and Decryption

in the proposed scheme. In the context of the proposed scheme, Encryption enables a

user to encode and embed a secret data into a cover-image whereas Decryption is for

decoding and extracting the embedded data from the intended stego-image.

4.1.1 ENCRYPTION PROCESS

As mentioned earlier, the Encryption process in the proposed scheme

enables a user to hide a secret data into a cover-image. In order to describe the

Encryption function in the proposed scheme, a use case diagram is used to

identify the interactions between the system and the senders. In the use case

diagram, the use cases or processes are drawn as an oval shape whereas the

actors or the senders are represented as stick figure. The compulsory

procedure for the Encryption process will be shown using the <<include>>

21
relationship whereas the <<extend>> relationship indicates the optional

procedure for Encryption process.

4.1.2 DECRYPTION PROCESS

As mentioned previously, the Decryption process decodes or extracts the

secret data from a selected stego-image. Similarly, a use case diagram is used as a

representation to indicate the interaction between the proposed scheme and the

receivers in order to describe the Decryption process. There are two procedures in

the Decryption process. In order to extract a secret data, initially a receiver is

required to identify the stego-image which consists of a secret data. The

proposed scheme feasibly allows the receiver to preview the identified stego-image

file to prevent any wrong selection before extracting the embedded secret data.

However, if the stego-image is not encoded with the methods in the proposed

system or does not contain any embedded data, an error message will be prompted

out to notify receiver that the stego-image is invalid.

Figure4.1.2: Use Case Diagram of Encryption Process

22
4.2 PROGRAM FLOWCHAT

This is a step by step graphical view of how the encryption and decryption

modules carryout their various functions, first the encryption process is shown then

followed by the decryption process.

23
The Encryption flowchart

The Decryption flowchart

24
4.3 SAMPLE INPUT/OUTPUT PAGES

This is the first screen which has two tab options – one is Encrypt Image for

encryption and another is Decrypt image for decryption. In right – top panel it

displays the information about the image such as size, height and width.

4.3.1 SCREEN FORM OF REPORT

FIG (1)

When extracting the information from the STEGO-IMAGE, the image is been uploaded into the

system by clicking Button “Browse” to activate the File Open Dialog Box. Once the image has

25
been uploaded, we click on the Button “Extract and Save” and a File Open Dialog Box will

popup to save the information file extracted from the STEGO-IMAGE as shown in fig (2).

Fig (2)

4.3.2 FILES USED TO PRODUCE REPORT

Listed below are some of the important files used in the designing and generate required report

for the new system. The files are:

1. Image File (BMP Format).

2. Information File.

3. Text.

26
4.4 LIST OF INPUT ITEMS REQUIRED

Listed below are some of the important files used in the designing and to generate required report

for the new system. The files are:

1. Image File (BMP Format).

2. Information File.

3. Text.

4.4.1 DATA CAPTURE SCREEN FORMS FOR INPUTS

Fig (3)

27
TO load image, click on button “Browse” that is next to the Load Image Textbox. The file open

dialog box will display as follows, select the Image file, which you want to use to hide the

information and click on Open Button.

Fig (4)

28
The image file will open and it displays as follows. Next, click on Button “Browse” that is next

to the Load File Textbox.

Fig (5)

Then we will select either to use a Text File by clicking the Radio Button with the label

“Embed” as shown in Fig(6) or a input text directing from our Keyboard by clicking the Radio

Button with the label “Embed Text” as shown in Fig (5).

29
 Fig (6)

When the Progress Bar is full that means the process of Embedding of the Information file in

the Cover Image as been successfully completed. TO save the newly generated output STEGO-

IMAGE in BMP format as shown in the Fig (6) image, click on Button “Save As” that is next to

the Load Image Textbox. The File Open Dialog Box will display as follows, select the name for

the new STEGO-IMAGE, that you have hidden your information and click on Save Button.

30
 CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 SUMMARY

Steganography is a really interesting subject and outside of the mainstream

cryptography and system administration that most of us deal with day after day.

Steganography can be used for hidden communication. We have explored the

limits of steganographic theory and practice. We printed out the enhancement of

the image steganography system using LSB approach to provide a means of secure

communication. A stego-key has been applied to the system during embedment of

the message into the cover image. This steganographic application software

provided for the purpose of how to use any type of image formats to hide any type

of files inside them. The master work of this application is in supporting any type

of pictures without need to convert to bitmap, and lower limitation on file size to

be hidden, because of using maximum memory space in pictures to hide the file.

Since ancient times, man has found a desire in the ability to communicate covertly.

The recent explosion of research in watermarking to protect intellectual property is

evidence that steganography is not just limited to military or espionage

applications. Steganography, like cryptography, will play an increasing role in the

future of secure communication in the “digital world”.

31
5.2 CONCLUSION

Steganography is not intended to replace cryptography but rather to

supplement it. If a message is encrypted and hidden with a stenographic method it

provides an additional layer of protection and reduces the chance of the hidden

message being detected. Steganography is still a fairly new concept to the general

public although this is likely not true in the world of secrecy and espionage. Digital

watermark technology is currently being used to track the copyright and ownership

of digital content. Efforts to improve the robustness of the watermarks are

necessary to ensure that the watermarks and embedded information can securely

defend against watermarking attacks. With continuous advancements in technology

it is expected that in the near future more efficient and advanced techniques in

steganalysis will emerge that will help law enforcement to better detect illicit

materials transmitted through the Internet.

32
5.3 RECOMMENDATION

The knowledge of the technology is still limited to mainly the research

institutions and academia; however there is a growing understanding that this

technology could be used widely. Interested bodies should carry out more research

into the field of information hiding. In future, one could extend the system to be

more robust and efficient.

33
REFERENCES

Herodotus, 1996, the first documented evidence about steganography being used to send

messages is in the histories.

Tacticius, 1990, proposed humerous steganography techniques such as hiding messages

in woman’s earrings or messages carried by pigeons.

Brewster, 1857, shrinks the hidden messeges for not longer than a full stop or small dot

of ink.

Ahsan, K. & Kundur, D., “Practical Data hiding in TCP/IP”, Proceedings of the

Workshop on Multimedia Security at ACM Multimedia, 2002.

Anderson, R.J. & Petitcolas, F.A.P.,(1998) “On the limits of steganography”, IEEE

Journal of selected Areas in Communications.

Artz, D., “Digital Steganography: Hiding Data within Data”, IEEE Internet Computing

Journal, June 2001.

Bender, W., Gruhl, D., Morimoto, N. & Lu, A., “Techniques for data hiding”, IBM

Systems Journal, Vol 35, 1996.

Chandramouli, R., Kharrazi, M. & Memon, N., “Image steganography and steganalysis:

Concepts and Practice”, Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Digital

Watermarking, October 200.

Currie, D.L. & Irvine, C.E., “Surmounting the effects of lossy compression on

Steganography”, 19th National Information Systems Security Conference, 1996.

environment”, SANS Institut.

Handel, T. & Sandford, M., “Hiding data in the OSI network model”, Proceedings of the

1st International Workshop on Information Hiding, June 1996.

Silman, J.,(2001) “Steganography and Steganalysis: An Overview”, SANS Institute.

Jamil, T., (1999) “Steganography: The art of hiding information is plain sight”, IEEE

Potentials, 18:01.

Johnson, N.F. & Jajodia, S., “Exploring Steganography: Seeing the Unseen”, Computer

Journal,February 1998.

Johnson, N.F. & Jajodia, S., “Steganalysis of Images Created Using Current
Steganography Software”, Proceedings of the 2nd Information Hiding Workshop,
April 1998.

Krenn, R., “Steganography and Steganalysis”, Retrieved from

[Link] January, 2014.

Lee, Y.K. & Chen, L.H.,(2000) “High capacity image steganographic model”, Visual

Image Signal Processing, 147:03.

Marvel, L.M., Boncelet Jr., C.G. & Retter, C., (1999)“Spread Spectrum Steganography”,

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Moerland, T., “Steganography and Steganalysis”, Leiden Institute of Advanced

Computing Science, Retrieved from [Link]/home/ tmoerl/[Link]

February, 2014.

Owens, M., (2002) “A discussion of covert channels and steganography”, SANS Institute.

Petitcolas, F.A.P., Anderson, R.J. & Kuhn, M.G.(1999) “Information Hiding – A

survey”, Proceedings of the IEEE, 87:07.

Provos, N. & Honeyman, P., “Hide and Seek: An introduction to steganography”, IEEE

Security and Privacy Journal, 2003.

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[Link] February, 2014.

Simmons, G., (1983) “The prisoners problem and the subliminal channel”, CRYPTO.

Venkatraman, S., Abraham, A. & Paprzycki, M., (2004) “Significance of Steganography

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36
37
TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY

1.1 Background to the Study -------------------------------------------------

1.2 Statements of the Problem --------------------------------------------------

1.3 Research Question --------------------------------------------------------

1.4 Purpose of the Study --------------------------------------------------------

1.5 Scope of the Study ----------------------------------------------------------

1.6 Significance of Study ---------------------------------------------------------

1.7 Limitation of the Study ------------------------------------------------------

1.8 Operational Definition of Terms -------------------------------------------

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction to the Study -------------------------------------------------

2.2 Current Literature Review ------------------------------------------------

2.3 Relevant Theories of the Review ----------------------------------------

2.4 Summary of the Chapter --------------------------------------------------

CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research Methodology------------------------------------------

38
3.2 System Analysis And Design

3.3 Input and Output design

3.4 Instrumental/Materials

3.5 Hardware Requirement

3.6 Software Requirement

CHAPTER FOUR

PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION/DOCUMENTATION

CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 Summary

5.2 Conclusion

5.3 Recommendation

References

Appendix

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 ABSTRACT

Steganography 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. For hiding secret information in images, there exists a large variety of

steganography techniques some are more complex than others and all of them

have respective strong and weak points. Different applications may require

absolute invisibility of the secret information, while others require a large secret

message to be hidden. This project report intends to give an overview of image

steganography, its uses and techniques. It also attempts to identify the

requirements of a good steganography algorithm and briefly recommended on

which stenographic technique are more suitable for which applications.

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 Certification

This is to certify that the research project was carried out By Bello Ahmed 0peyemi with

matriculation number HND/FT/SAP/CS/0127 and has been read, approved and accepted

as the requirement award of higher national diploma [HND] in computer science of

heritage polytechnic, Eket Akwa Ibom state

-------------------------------- ------------------------

Mr Segun DATE

(project supervisor)

--------------------------- ------------------------

MR AYEPEKU .O. FELIX DATE

(HOD computer

DEDICATION

I dedicate this project to almighty GOD, the custodian of wisdom and giver of

knowledge.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

All praises and adoration goes to no one but almighty GOD, the author and the finisher of

our faith. My sincere appreciation goes to my adorable parents, my siblings and my well

wishers for their support and parental care.

Furthermore, my profound gratitude goes to my lectures in school and my sincere

appreciation and thanks goes to my entire course mate in the department of computer

science. I pray that GOD will continue to increase us in knowledge, wisdom and

understanding (AMIN)

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