TABLE OF CONTENTS

Candidate’s Declaration i Certificate ii Acknowledgement iii Abstract iv List of figures vi

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 project goals 1

1.2 Introduction 1 1.3 Difference with Other System 21.4 Components of Steganographic Message 31.5 Principle of Steganography 4

1.6 Various Methods of Digital Steganography 5

Chapter 2: Software Requirement Specification

2.1 Introduction 6 2.1.1 Purpose 62.1.2 Scope of project 62.1.3 References 62.1.4 Overview of document 6

2.2. Overall Description 7 2.2.1 Product function 7

2.2.2 User characteristic 72.2.3 Dependencies 72.2.4 Operating environment 72.2.5 Brief Description 7

2.3 Requirement specification 8 2.3.1 Software interface requirement 8 2.3.2 Hardware interface requirement 8

2.4 Functional Requirements 8

2.5 Non-functional Requirements 9

2.5.1 Performance 92.5.2 Reliability 9 2.5.3 Portability 9

Chapter 3: Software Development System

3.1 Modules of System 10

3.1.1 Embed 103.1.2 Retrieve 10

3.2 Previous Work 11

3.2.1 Binary Wave Encoding 113.2.2 Binary Mp3 Encoding 113.2.3 Non-Binary Wave Encoding 12

3.3 Similarities & Differences with Cryptography 123.4 UML Diagrams 13

Chapter 4: Cryptography

4.1 Definition 17

4.2 Basic Terms Used in Cryptography 18 4.3 Cryptography through the Ages 18

Chapter 5: MSB Algorithm 19

Chapter 6: Implementation 24

6.1 Module-1 File Handling Operation 256.2 Module-2 Encryption & Steganography 256.3 Module-3 &4 Desteganography & Decryption 26

Chapter 7: Snapshots 27

Chapter 8: Applications 34

Chapter 9: Conclusions and Future scope 36

References vii

Chapter-1

Introduction

1.1 Project Goals The aim of this project is to develop a set of effective steganography techniques for

concealing information within a .wav audio file. Due to the high graphical content in

various media player, this is the ideal medium for hiding information. The project

involves

1. To improve the traditional steganography techniques by providing more secure environment using location schemes.

2. Research into the background of Steganography.

3. Choice of an appropriate platform on which to create our Steganography environment.

4. Design of techniques to successfully hide information within Mp3 audio file.

5. Conversion of Mp3 audio file to wav file and implementation of the created techniques.

6. Evaluation of the techniques weighing the advantages of each.

Fig.1:- Types of Steganography

1.2 Introduction to Steganography

People use cryptography to send secret messages to one another without a third party

overseeing the message. Steganography is a type of cryptography in which the secret

message is hidden in a digital picture. While cryptography is preoccupied with the

protection of the contents of a message or information, Steganography concentrates

on concealing the very existence of such messages from detection.

With the invention of digital audio and images files this has taken on a whole new

meaning, creating new methods for performing “reversible data hiding” as it is often

dubbed. This has many possible applications including the copyright watermarking of

audio, video and still image data. In digital media, Steganography is mainly oriented

around the undetectable transmission of one form of information within another. In

order for a data hiding technique to be successful it must adhere to two rules:

The embedded data must be undetectable within its carrier medium (the audio or

image file used). The carrier should display no properties that flag it as suspicious,

whether it is to the human visual/auditory system or in increased file size for the

carrier file.

The embedded data must maintain its integrity within the carrier and should be easily

removable, under the right circumstances, by the receiving party.

The existing system of Audio Steganography poses more restrictions on the choosing

of audio files. User can select only wav files to encode. Further embedding

information into sound files is generally considered more difficult than images;

according to the human ear is extremely sensitive to perturbations in sound and can in

fact detect such turbulence as low as one part in 10 million. The four methods

discussed further provide users with a large amount of choice and makes the

technology more accessible to everyone.

Fig.2:- Idea of Steganography

1.3 Difference with other systemsThe term “Information hiding” can be related to either steganography field or

watermarking technology. Watermarking technology usually refers to various

methods that conceal information in a data object so that the information is adjustable

to future modifications. In essence, it should be impossible to remove the watermark

without drastically modifying the quality of the object.

While on the other hand, steganography refers to hidden / concealed information that

is fragile. Any small modification to the cover medium may destroy the concealed

information. Also, the above mentioned two ways differ in one more way. In

steganography, viewer or user must not know about the presence of the concealed

information whereas in watermarking, this feature is optional.

1.4 Components of Steganographic Message Before going deep into the steganographic process, first and foremost, we need to

understand the various components of a steganographic message. The below list

covers all the possible components that will be present in the steganographic message.

• Secret message

• Cover data

• Stego message

The secret message refers to the part of the message which is intended to be hidden.

This message will later be encrypted to make it even more difficult for anyone who

tries to break the security to get hold of the hidden informatic message. This is the

crucial component in a steganographic message. Next part is the cover data

component.

This component refers to the container in which the secret message is hidden. This

covert data component can be anything like digital photos, digital videos, audio files

and text files. The final component is the stego message which is as crucial as the

secret message. The stego message component refers to the final product.

1.5 Principle of Steganography

The following formula provides a very generic description of the flow of the

steganographic process-

Cover_medium + hidden_data + stego_key = stego_medium

A key typically parameterizes the embedding; without knowledge of this key (or a

related one) it is difficult for a third party to detect or remove the embedded material.

Once the cover object has material embedded in it, it is called a stego object. The

steganographic process is depicted in the figure below. Here, the cover media is “c” ,

secret message by “m” ,stego-key by “s” and the key by “k”.

1.6 Various methods of Digital SteganographyThere are various methods available to achieve digital steganography. Steganography

is being used in the media of text, images, and audio files.

Encoding secret messages in Text

Encrypting secret messages in text can be a very tedious and often challenging task.

This is because text files have a very small amount of redundant data to replace with a

secret message. If the text files have vast amount of redundant data, the secret

message that needs to be encrypted can be easily be incorporated into the text file by

simply replacing few bits in a particular order.

Image Files Steganography

Image files are also used to hide data for communication. An image file is an array of

numbers that constitutes light intensities. In this approach, the data can be hidden in a

color image or a gray scale image. Gray-scale images were given more importance

because of their variation in shades. This will increase the scope for hiding

information. In the process of embedding the image file, the confidential data that

should be hidden in the image file is first embedded using a cryptographic algorithm.

Then the embedded data is embedded into the image file, which in turn results in a

stego-image. Then a stego-key is used during the hiding process to send the image

securely to the receiver. After the image is received at the other end, the receiver will

extract the data from the image. In order to extract the message, the receiver requires

a shared secret key. The extraction process detailed is a cryptographic algorithm or a

stego-key approach. To improve this process, message compression can be applied, so

that data security is maintained at a higher degree.

Fig 3 Encoding secret messages in Audio Files

Encoding secret messages in audio is the most challenging technique to use when

dealing with steganography. This is the most challenging because of the human ability

to distinguish small variations in sounds. The range of the human auditory power is

dynamic. Humans can distinguish small changes in the audio with crystal clarity.

Audio steganography is a useful means for transmitting covert military information

via a cover audio signal which is virtually untraceable. “The two primary criteria for

successful embedding of a covert message are that the stego signal resulting from

embedding is perceptually indistinguishable from the host audio signal, and the

embedded message is recovered correctly at the receiver.”

Chapter - 2

Software Requirement Specification

2.1 Introduction

2.1.1 Purpose

The purpose of this document is to present a detailed description of the

Steganography in audio file. The main purpose of this project is to develop a system

that could take a message (secret massage) from user, encrypt it and then embed it

into a audio file using LSB (least significant bit algorithm) and thus produce a

stego_message that is incomprehendable.

The next part of this project could decrypt that stego_message and retrieve secret from

audio file message.

2.1.2 Scope of Project

The scope of the project is to limit unauthorized access and provide better security

during message transmission. To meet the requirements, I use the simple and basic

approach of steganography and encryption. In this project, the proposed approach

finds the suitable algorithm for embedding the data in an image using steganography

which provides the better security pattern for sending messages through a network. .

2.1.3 References

IEEE Std. 830-1998 IEEE Recommended Practice for Software Requirements

Specifications. IEEE Computer Society, Jan 2014

2.1.4 Overview of Document

In the proposed system, we implement two important n/w security concepts namely

STEGANOGRAPHY and ENCRYPTION.

Steganography is the science of hiding data. A steganography process normally

involves a cover-medium, the secret information and a stego-key. Together combined,

they form the Stego-medium.

Encryption is often confused with Steganography. Encryption is the process of

converting a plaintext message into an unrecognizable form known as the cipher text.

Various algorithms are used in Encryption but in this project no standard algorithm

has been used due to time-consumption.

In this project, a text file containing the secret information is created. An audio file of

WAV format is the chosen as cover medium. Since the contents of the Audio file and

text file are different, a function is written to convert the text file into bit stream.

Then the text data is converted to an unrecognizable form. This process is known as

Encryption. The encrypted file is then taken and embedded into the audio file. Care is

taken throughout the project that the audio file does not suffer from any noise or

corruption.

On the receiver side, the audio file is taken and the encrypted file is recovered by De-

Steganography. Then the encrypted file is decrypted to reveal the secret information.

The contents of the audio file are listened to before and after the techniques have been

implemented with the aid of a speaker.

2.2 Overall Description

2.2.1 Product Function

There is only one kind of user for our product. The general user will be able to

perform all the operations on the product after installing the product on his machine.

JDK 1.6 or higher is required to install the product.

2.2.1 User Characteristics

Any user with a little knowledge of computers and security will be able to operate our

application.

2.2.2 Dependencies

The system only depends on the fact that JDK 1.6 or higher is installed. Also audio

wave files of reasonable size are required to carry out Steganography.

2.2.3 Operating Environment

A computer running Windows XP/Vista/7 is required for the application to run. JDK

1.6 or higher is required. A keyboard or a mouse is required to operate the application.

2.2.4 Brief Description

1. Primary actor: The general targeted audience are the only primary users for our

system.

2. Pre-condition: JDK 1.6 is installed. The user has to import an audio file and has to

provide a text.

3. Main Scenarios: There are a number of main scenarios in our project.

Import a text file for encryption.

Import an audio file.

Choose between the basic and the advanced view.

The user can see a detailed help file in .chm format.

2.3 Requirements Specification

2.3.1 Software Interface Requirement

Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista SP2, Windows Server 2008(32 /64 bit)

2.4 Hardware Interface Requirement

1. Machine: x86 (32-bit) or x86-64 (64-bit)

2. CPU: Operating System Dependent

3. RAM: 128 MB; 64 MB for Windows XP (32-bit)

4. Disk Space: 500 MB

5. Compatible Mouse and Keyboard

2.5 Functional Requirements

1. Audio file is taken and if it is not in .wav format, it is converted into .wav file using mp3 to .wav converter.

2. The encrypted text file is converted into bit stream.

3. The bit stream is then embedded into audio file using LSB algorithm along with a stego key.

4. At the receiver end, stego key must match. If the key is matched, further de-steganography is carried using reverse LSB algorithm.

5. The received bit stream is converted into text file and then decrypted to obtain the Hidden message

.

Fig 4: Steganography

2.6 Non-Functional Requirements

2.6.1 Performance

The embedded audio file generated should not contain any unwanted noise. Also the

application should be secure to statistical and comparisons reanalysis.

2.6.2 Reliability

The product should not crash under any circumstance such as user entering invalid

values, user trying to load unsupported files etc. It should show appropriate message

for every user generated message.

2.6.3 Portability

Our product will be portable to carry and will run in any machine provided it runs a

Windows Operating System. We have created an installer which compiles all files

into a single executable (.msi). Only this file is required to successfully install the

application on any computer.

Chapter - 3

SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT STUDY

Generally whenever the data is encrypted and if that data is hacked by unauthorized user,

because of scattering of information in encrypted form. The hacker may understand that the

file is encrypted. Then he will achieve the chance to decrypt file. This problem is overcome

in our proposed system named as Steganography. Proposed system having mechanism that it

encrypt the given data into the cipher text from the plain text using Data Encryption Standard

algorithm. Further it hides the encrypted data into file. As encrypted information is hided in

to file so generally hacker is not able to identify that the file which he has hacked, contains

some message. Further the proposed system may be aggrandizing for data encryption and

data hiding in the audio files.

3.1 Modules of the SystemThe project is basically divided into two parts. That is retrieving and embedding of

message. The basic part for embedding the message is that the message is hiding into

the audio and second module that are used for retrieve that message which is hiding

into these files. Similarly the other module that can useful for hiding the text file into

the same file by using embed operation that file is encrypted into the file and after that

it decrypt by using the operation of retrieving function, in similar way also in future

we have planned for adding one of the subsystem that means these two module that is

embed and retrieve are used for hiding the information into the mp3 file after that the

text is extract from the file.

3.1.1 Embed

In this the user can embed the information which are in different format such as

message, text file in this module we Simply encrypt data this encrypted data is hiding

into the file by using data encryption standard algorithm so it will be useful for

disabling to visualize the data to other means the data should be encrypted in this file.

3.1.2 Retrieve

In retrieve module we develop the task in such a way that the data which was hided

inside the audio that can be decrypted by using this retrieve function. In this module

the file which was hide in encrypted format is simply display in original format.

3.2 Previous Work 3.2.1 Binary Wave Encoding

There has been some work done in the field of audio steganography, particularly in

binary encoding. One scheme to encode binary information in a wave file involves

encoding each bit of the message in the lowest bit of several carrier “blocks” in the

file. According to the scheme, one out of every few samples will carry one bit of the

message in its lowest bit.

3.2.2 Binary mp3 Encoding

Another binary-encoding scheme is MP3Stego, which works by inserting a secret file,

in text format, into the carrier MP3 file during the compression process. MP3Stego is

based on manipulating bits in the MP3 encoding process in order to store information

in the final file. The program uses the psychoacoustic model to determine an

acceptable amount of noise in the cover file, and limits the capacity to encode data to

that threshold. One facet of our project examines binary versus non-binary encoding

for MP3 files, which compares the capacity of MP3 Stego against an encoding

scheme that we developed.

3.2.3 Non Binary wave Encoding

There is another description of a non-binary scheme, which uses amplitude

modulation (AM) to hide a wave file within the data chunk of another wave file by

modulating the message with a high frequency wave and adding it to the cover file.

Similarly to our scheme, this system uses a modulating frequency placed outside of

normal human hearing to encode the additional data combination of low-pass filters

seeks to minimize noise in the resulting output file.

1. Similarities and Differences with Cryptography Often steganography is confused with cryptography .The confusion is not in terms with

name but with its appearance and its usage. The easiest way to differentiate the two is

to remember that steganography conceals not only the contents of the message but also

the mere existence of a message. It is not the same with cryptography. The initial

steganographic applications used null ciphers. These null ciphers are also called clear

text in technical terms. A null cipher or clear text ensures that the message has not been

encrypted in any way. Either it is using basic character shifting or substitution or

advanced modern day encryption algorithm. It implies that the message is often used in

plain view and it can neither be detected as been there always or cannot be seen once

detected.

One more striking similarity between cryptography and steganography is that both these

fields have their initial roots in military and government applications. Later,

steganography was developed in a more advanced way in ingenuity and complexity.

There are many approaches available for the process of steganography as well as

steganalysis.

Steganalysis is the method by which to detect the presence of a hidden message and

attempt to reveal the true contents of this message. Like steganography, steganalysis

was also eventually evolved throughout its history. The main problem with steganalysis

is that it often lags behind with new steganographic discovery as an attempt to discover

the hidden messages and eventually decipher them.

UML DIAGRAMS

Use case diagram:

Component diagram:

.

Activity diagram:

Collaboration diagram

Sequence diagram:

Chapter - 4

Cryptography

4.1 Definition Cryptography is the science of diverse field of problems related to encryption and

decryption techniques, privacy of communication, authentication, digital signatures

and much more. However, its main task is the constant quest for making the exchange

of information totally secure. As such, its task has not change for centuries. Since

secret writing hieroglyphic system, through Julius Cesar "Cesar cipher", German

Enigma to latest public-key systems, scientists and practitioners around the world,

known as cryptographers are in this quest of hiding information from unauthorized

eyes.

4.2 Basic terms used in Cryptography4.2.1 Clear text, plaintext

The text or message that we want to secure (the "input") is called clear text or

plaintext.

4.2.2 Encryption

Transformation of the contents of the message in such a way that its original content

is hidden from outsiders is known as encryption. It is an algorithm.

4.2.3 Cipher text

The message that has been transformed, or encrypted is called cipher text.

4.2.4 Key

Encryption and decryption usually make use of a key, and the coding method is such

that only knowing the proper key can perform decryption.

4.2.5 Decryption

The transformation of cipher text back to plaintext, where the original content has

been retrieved is called decryption.

4.2.6 Key

The short text, number or message that unequivocally describes the transformation

(encryption or decryption) in the current encrypting algorithm is called the key.

4.2.7 Cryptanalysis

The science of retrieving the plaintext without the knowledge of the key (breaking the

ciphers) is called Cryptanalysis.

4.2.8 Symmetric cryptographyThe branch of cryptography that deals with symmetric encrypting algorithms.

Symmetric encrypting algorithms use the same key to both encryption and decryption.

Sometimes they are called secret-key algorithms. A well-known example of

symmetric algorithm is DES.

4.2.9 Asymmetric cryptography

The branch of cryptography that deals with asymmetric encrypting algorithms.

Asymmetric encrypting algorithms use the pair of interrelated keys. One element of

the pair is used to encrypt the message, while the other to decrypt. Sometimes they are

called public-key algorithms. The pair elements are usually called public and private

keys. A well-known example of symmetric algorithm is RSA.

4.2.10 Digital signature

Many of asymmetric encrypting algorithms can be used to digitally sign a message.

The digital signature is a certain data that was created using secret key and the

message. For the given secret key there is only one (unique) public key that can be

used to verify that the data (digital signature of the message) was really generated

using the original private key and the original message.

4.3 Cryptography through the ages4.3.1Ancient times

It has been discovered that since 3rd millennium some Egyptian hieroglyphic texts

were very strange. They did not exhibit typical word groups and, in the same time,

they had many signs not found in the Egyptian hieroglyphic canon. Many researches

30 attribute that to very early cryptography - a secret writing. However, it is not clear

whether the purpose of such "encryption" was really to "encrypt". Some researchers

think it could be a kind of eye catcher, to attract the reader to find the pleasure of

deciphering it! Nevertheless, it is still a very early encryption.

Chapter - 5

MSB Algorithm

5.1 Encoding SchemeAn audio (WAV) file contains number of carrier audio sample (as shown in fig. 4).

Fig. 5:- Digital Sampling of analog signal

In traditional LSB algorithm, to hide the secrete message into the audio file, it requires

to convert the secret message in binary format and replace each bit in sequenced

manner. But in proposed algorithm the secret bit value to be inserted in a different

manner unlike traditional way.

Initially the secrete message has to encrypted with some standard encryption algorithm

with a key supplied by the sender and shared with the receiver. Then the position for

insertion inside the sample of the carrier audio file has to be selected based on the

decimal value of first 3 MSB bits. Suppose, first 3 MSB bits' of a sample are 100

(decimal value is 4), then one bit of the secrete message has to be inserted at the 4

position of the corresponding sample of carrier audio file. After the decimal value for 3

MSB bits are considered for the next sample and similarly the next secrete bit has to be

put at the decimal valued position and the process will be repeated for each bit in the

secrete message till the full secrete message is hidden. The encoding example is shown

in fig.5

Fig.6:- Bits of a secret Message are embedded in a 16 bit CD quality sample using the proposed method

The main advantage of this proposed algorithm is that the insertion position is totally

unknown to anyone who wants to hack the secret message. In traditional algorithm the

insertion of the secret bit value is sequential so a hacker can easily decode the secret

message. So this method is more secure than the traditional one. The algorithm and

process flow (fig.5) are as follows

Algorithm for encoding:-

Input: Audio file in wav format to use as carrier and the secret message to hide as text

file, a key for encryption.

Output: Stego audio file containing hidden message.

The steps are as follows:

1. The secret message has to be encrypted using a key supplied by the sender and shared

with the receiver. Consider the binary of the cipher text of the secret message to be

hidden. If the secret message is in text then convert it into the respective ASCII[4]

value and after that it will be converted into binary pattern.

2. Read a secret bit from the sequence to hide.

3. Convert each audio sample into a 16 bit sequence.

4. For each audio sample value

Do

4.1 From the carrier sample first (MSB) 3 bits to be read and converted into decimal

value. That generated values is the insertion position of secret bit inside that audio

sample.

4.2 Insert a secret bit into a selected position which was determined by previous step.

5. Repeat the steps until all the secret bit values are replaced.

6. Stop.

Fig.7:- process of encoding5.3 Decoding Scheme

The same pattern, which was used to encode the audio, used to decode the modified

wav file to get back the original (secrete) message. The message is first decoded and

then decrypted by the same encryption key to get the message in its original form.

Decoded algorithm and process are as follows

Algorithm for decoding:-

Input : Stego audio file containing hidden message

Output : secret message

The steps are as follows:-

1. First we have to select the random bits from the stego audio sample which was

generated by the proposed way.

2. If the secret message is present into the audio file then recognize the random bit

positions and decrypt the values using proposed algorithm

3. Repeat the previous step until we will get the whole secret message.

4. Display the message to the end user after decrypting.

5. Stop.

Fig.8:- Process of Decoding

5.3 Complexity

The complexity of the encoding and decoding algorithm related to the length of the

binary encrypted form of the secrete message. Let, the length of the secrete message is

n. Then, in n iteration next sample from the carrier audio has to be sleeted, the 3 MSB

bits are converted into decimal number, then at that position of the sample a bit from

the encrypted message has to be intersected. The same job has to be repeated at every

iteration, which of constant cost. Hence the cost of the algorithm can be calculated as

O(n).

Fig.9:- Bits of a secret Message are extracted using the proposed method

Chapter - 6

Implementation

In this chapter we describe in detail about the implementation of the project by discussing the

various modules involved. The project has been implemented using Java. In the proposed

system, we implement two important n/w security concepts namely STEGANOGRAPHY

and ENCRYPTION.

Steganography is the science of hiding data. A steganographic process normally involves a

cover-medium, the secret information and a stego-key. Together combined, they form the

Stego-medium.

Encryption is often confused with Steganography. Encryption is the process of converting a

plaintext message into an unrecognizable form known as the cipher text. Various algorithms

are used in Encryption but in this project no standard algorithm has been used due to time-

consumption.

In this project, a text file containing the secret information is created. An audio file of WAV

format is the chosen cover medium. Since the contents of the Audio file and text file are

different, a function is written to convert the text file into bit stream.

Then the text data is converted to an unrecognizable form. This process is known as

Encryption. The encrypted file is then taken and embedded into the audio file. Care is taken

throughout the project that the audio file does not suffer from any noise or corruption.

On the receiver side, the audio file is taken and the encrypted file is recovered by

Desteganography. Then the encrypted file is decrypted to reveal the secret information. The

contents of the audio file are listened to before and after the techniques have been

implemented with the aid of a speaker.

6.1 MODULE 1 – FILE HANDLING OPERATIONS

1. In this module, 4 main files are created and manipulated by the use of the file

descriptors.

2. The 4 files are as follows “CAM.WAV”, “MSG.TXT”, “TEMP.WAV” and

“KEY.WAV”.

3. Before we proceed into the project, the existence of the above files must be checked.

There is no point in performing operations on a non-existent file

4. Four file descriptors are created namely fp, key file, fp1 and fp2.

5. If the file descriptor is equivalent to a NULL value, the user comes out of the

program. This indicates that the corresponding file does not exist.

CAM.WAV- Audio File.

TEMP.WAV- Stego File.

MSG.TXT- Text file containing the secret information.

CONT.TXT- Encrypted File.

6. After the validity of the files are checked, the text file and audio file are compared in

size.

7. A code is written to calculate and compare the size of the audio file and text file.

8. If the audio file is lesser in size compared to the text file, the user comes out of the

program. Else, he proceeds.

9. After this comparison, the text file MSG.TXT is considered.

10. The Audio file contents are in HEXADECIMAL format while the text file is in text

form

11. Hence, a function is called which converts the text file into bitstream. The function is

written in the program which consists of the definitions for the audio file.

12. The function is called in the main program. Once the function is called and

Implemented, the text file is returned in the form of bits.

13. In the above steps discussed, the files are operated in 2 main modes namely the – read

and write mode.

14. The read mode enables the user to read the contents of a file to the end of the file.

15. The write mode enables the user to write contents to another file from another file

which is in read mode.

16. The file is now ready to be encrypted.

6.2 MODULE 2- Encryption and Steganography

1. In this module, the text file contents are in a bit stream FORM.

a. The text file is opened in the read mode while the CAM.WAV file and

KEY.FILE are in the write mode.

2. Before the above steps are carried out, the audio file CAM.WAV is listened to with

the help of a speaker.

3. The text file is converted to an unrecognizable form known as CIPHERTEXT by

writing a suitable code. To refer the code, please refer to Appendix-1.

4. The encrypted data is now ready to be encrypted into the audio file.

5. The steganographic technique employed in embedding the encrypted data into the

audio file is MSB Insertion Algorithm.

6. To understand more about MSB, refer to Chapter-2 which deals with Steganography

and its algorithms in detail.

7. The result of the above process is a stego-medium which is now ready to be

transmitted to the receiver side.

8. Before the transmission of the stego-file takes place, the stegonagraphed and

encrypted audio file is listened to with the help of a speaker. This is to check if any

noise or corruption is present in the audio file.

9. The encrypted data is viewed depending on the users choice by means of a printf

statement and a while loop. This displays the cipher text of the secret information of

the MSG.TXT file.

10. To any outsider, the result of step 10 will seem like a set of junk values holding no

meaning. This is the main advantage of the proposed system

11. The stego-file is now ready for transmission.

6.3 MODULE 3 & 4 – Desteganography and Decryption

1. In this module, the files are first checked for validity with the help of the

corresponding file descriptors.

2. A new file known as OUTPUT.TXT is considered.

3. First, the stego-medium is obtained. The audio file and stego file are opened in their

respective modes.

4. In this step, the encrypted file is recovered from the cover medium by means of a

suitable code - DeSteganography.

5. After the above step has taken place, the encrypted file is decrypted to its original

form. This is Decryption.

6. But the decrypted file is in its hexadecimal format. Hence, a function is written which

converts the bit stream back to text form.

7. The result is stored in OUTPUT.TXT and viewed.

a. The audio file is again taken and its contents are listened to with the aid of a speaker.

Chapter - 7

Snapshots

Snapshot: 1 – Home page for audio steganography

Snapshots

Snapshot: 2- Select audio file

Snapshots

Snapshot: 3- Write the message

After writing message click encoding button Then encoding with key After clicking encoding button, input dialogue box gets opened. Click OK

Snapshots

Snapshot: 4- Enter Password

Snapshots

Snapshot: 5- Extracting from audio file

Snapshots

Snapshot: 6- Enter password for decryption

Snapshots

Snapshot: 7- The Decrypted text appears.

Chapter - 7

Snapshots

Snapshot: 1 – Home page for audio steganography

Snapshots

Snapshot: 2- Select audio file

Snapshots

Snapshot: 3- Write the message

After writing message click encoding button Then encoding with key After clicking encoding button, input dialogue box gets opened. Click OK

Snapshots

Snapshot: 4- Enter Password

Snapshots

Snapshot: 5- Extracting from audio file

Snapshots

Snapshot: 6- Enter password for decryption

Snapshots

Snapshot: 7- The Decrypted text appears.

Chapter - 8

Applications

Steganography is applicable to, but not limited to, the following areas.

1. Confidential communication and secret data storing

2. Protection of data alteration

3. Access control system for digital content distribution

4. Media Database systems

The area differs in what feature of the steganography is utilized in each system.

1. Confidential communication and secret data storing

The "secrecy" of the embedded data is essential in this area.

Historically, steganography have been approached in this area. Steganography provides us

with:

1. Potential capability to hide the existence of confidential data

2. Hardness of detecting the hidden (i.e., embedded) data

3. Strengthening of the secrecy of the encrypted data

In practice, when you use some steganography, you must first select a vessel data according

to the size of the embedding data. The vessel should be innocuous. Then, you embed the

confidential data by using an embedding program (which is one component of the

steganography software) together with some key. When extracting, you (or your party) use an

extracting program (another component) to recover the embedded data by the same key

(“common key" in terms of cryptography). In this case you need a "key negotiation" before

you start communication.

Attaching a stego file to an e-mail message is the simplest example in this application area.

But you and your party must do a "sending-and-receiving" action that could be noticed by a

third party. So, e-mailing is not a completely secret communication method.

There is an easy method that has no key-negotiation. We have a model of "Anonymous

Covert Mailing System."

There is some other communication method that uses the Internet Webpage. In this method

you don't need to send anything to your party, and no one can detect your communication.

This method is shown in the other page. Each secrecy based application needs an embedding

process which leaves the smallest embedding evidence.

You may follow the following.

1. Choose a large vessel, larger the better, compared with the embedding data.

2. Discard the original vessel after embedding.

For example, in the case of Qtech Hide & View, it leaves some latent embedding evidence

even if the vessel has a very large embedding capacity. You are recommended to embed only

25% or less (for PNG / BMP output) of the maximum capacity, or only 3% of the vessel size

(for JPEG output).

8.1Additional Applications

Use by terroristsWhen one considers that messages could be encrypted steganographically in e-mail

messages, particularly e-mail spam, the notion of junk e-mail takes on a whole new

light. Coupled with the "chaffing and winnowing" technique, a sender could get

messages out and cover their tracks all at once. Rumors about terrorists using

steganography started first in the daily newspaper USA Today on 5 February 2001 in

two articles titled "Terrorist instructions hidden online" and "Terror groups hide behind

Web encryption". In July the same year, an article was titled even more precisely:

"Militants wire Web with links to jihad". A citation from the article: "Lately, al-Qaeda

operatives have been sending hundreds of encrypted messages that have been hidden in

files on digital photographs on the auction site eBay.com". Other media worldwide

cited these rumors many times, especially after the terrorist attack of 9/11, without ever

showing proof. The Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported that an Al Qaeda

cell which had been captured at the Via Quaranta mosque in Milan had pornographic

images on their computers, and that these images had been used to hide secret messages

(although no other Italian paper ever covered the story). The USA Today articles were

written by veteran foreign correspondent Jack Kelley, who in 2004 was fired after

allegations emerged that he had fabricated stories and sources.

In October 2001, the New York Times published an article claiming that al-Qaeda had

used steganography to encode messages into images, and then transported these via e-

mail and possibly via USENET to prepare and execute the 11 September 2001 terrorist

attack. The Federal Plan for Cyber Security and Information Assurance Research and

Development, [22] published in April 2006 makes the following statements:

"...immediate concerns also include the use of cyberspace for covert communications,

particularly by terrorists but also by foreign intelligence services; espionage against

sensitive but poorly defended data in government and industry systems; subversion by

insiders, including vendors and contractors; criminal activity, primarily involving fraud

and theft of financial or identity information, by hackers and organized crime groups..."

"International interest in R&D for steganography technologies and their

commercialization and application has exploded in recent years. These technologies

pose a potential threat to national security. Because steganography secretly embeds

additional, and nearly undetectable, information content in digital products, the

potential for covert dissemination of malicious software, mobile code, or information is

great".

"The threat posed by steganography has been documented in numerous intelligence

reports".

Moreover, an online "terrorist training manual", the "Technical Mujahid, a Training

Manual for Jihadis" contained a section entitled "Covert Communications and Hiding

Secrets inside Images".

By early 2002, a Cranfield University MSc thesis developed the first practical

implementation of an online real-time Counter Terrorist Steganography Search Engine.

This was designed to detect the most likely image steganography in transit and thereby

provide UK Ministry of Defence Intelligence Staff a realistic approach to "narrowing

the field", suggesting that interception capacity was never the difficulty but rather

prioritising the target media.

Alleged use by intelligence servicesIn 2010, the Federal Bureau of Investigation alleged that the Russian foreign

intelligence service uses customized steganography software for embedding encrypted

text messages inside image files for certain communications with "illegal agents"

(agents under non-diplomatic cover) stationed abroad.

Chapter - 9

Conclusion and Future Scope

In this study, an audio steganography technique is proposed and tested. The objective of

audio quality measures, giving clues to the presence of hidden messages, are searched

thoroughly. With the analysis of variance (ANOVA) method, we have determined the best

individual features, and we have selected features taking into account their inter

correlation. We have taken MSB as our base algorithm and based on procedure we have

implemented audio steganography.

In MSB algorithm, we have taken decimal form of first three bits and according to those

embedded our message into the corresponding bits of audio files. This system is better than

previous LSB algorithm, as it provides more randomizations of the bits used, and thus

provides greater security.

In this proposed method, with steganography we have also used encryption i.e. we have

first encrypted our text message and then embedded it into the audio file. This approach

helps us to achieve more security, in case anyone intercepts our transmission. Moreover

audio file is used as a cover medium because we can embed more data into it as compared

to other cover mediums.

This project provides a good GUI for user so that user can easily perform steganography

operations in any java supporting platform.

Future Scope

Description: Steganography Offers Bright Prospects for Commercial Data Hiding. As

steganography continues on its evolutionary path researchers have unearthed new platforms

where steganographic techniques could be employed to hide information seamlessly. Such

research efforts have rekindled the research and development efforts oriented towards

steganography platforms and steganalysis and a number of researchers are working towards

discovering new platforms that miscreants could potentially use to hide information. For

instance, researchers have shown that voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) could emerge into a

popular platform for steganography owing to its ubiquity and the difficulty in detecting

hidden information in VoIP streams. In addition to VoIP, platforms such as images and other

multimedia content are expected to be widely used for concealing information. "Current

research in steganography is focused on identifying various platforms through which one can

hide information,’ notes the analyst of this research service. “Apart from the traditional

platforms such as audio, video, and images, researchers are looking for additional platforms

through which information can be hidden." An interesting idea under consideration is to have

a separate steganographic channel in a network to send messages. Although each mode has

many benefits, it is very difficult to ascertain the single best platform to send hidden

messages. Steganography is capable of mitigating piracy by aiding copyright marking. In the

future, digital camera manufacturers could implement steganographic features as a part of

camera firmware to annotate pictures with the photographer's copyright information.

Camcorder manufacturers could also follow suit and implement steganography and

watermarking techniques for protecting video content captured on camcorders and video

cameras. Going forward, legitimate applications such as tagging of multimedia content with

hidden information could become an important application area for steganography.

References

1. Wayner, Peter (2009). Disappearing cryptography 3rd Edition: information hiding:

steganography & watermarking (http://www.wayner.org/node/13) .Amsterdam:

MK/Morgan Kaufmann Publishers. ISBN 978-0-123-74479-1.

2. Petitcolas, Fabien A.P.; Katzenbeisser, Stefan (2000). Information Hiding Techniques

for Steganography and Digital Watermarking. Artech House Publishers. ISBN 1-580-

53035-4.

3. Johnson, Neil; Duric, Zoran; Jajodia, Sushil (2001). Information hiding: steganography and

watermarking: attacks and countermeasures. Springer. ISBN 978-0-792-37204-2.

4. Bauer, F. L. Decrypted Secrets: Methods and Maxims of Cryptology, 3rd ed. Springer-

Verlag, New York, 2002.

5. Cole, E. Hiding in Plain Sight. Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated. 2005

6. Arnold, M., Schmucker, M., and Wolthusen, S. D. Techniques and Applications of

Digital Watermarking and Content Protection. Artech House, Norwood,

Massachusetts, 2003.