IJRET: International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology

eISSN: 2319-1163 | pISSN: 2321-7308

SECURED DATA HIDING BY USING EXTENDED VISUAL

CRYPTOGRAPHY
Megha Goel1, M. Chaudhari2
1

PG Student, Computer Science & Engineering, PBCOE, Maharashtra, India

HOD & Asst. Professor, Computer Science & Engineering, PBCOE, Maharashtra, India

Abstract
Due to the rapid advancement of the internet large amount of data is transmitted over the internet. Some of the transmitted
information is very important like password, confidential file, security codes etc. so it is very important to provide security to
these data. In computer technology there are two ways to provide security to the data they are cryptography & steganography.
Although, in the past, there has been various research related to cryptography & steganography but neither of them provide
enough & strong security. So this paper proposes a novel approach for data hiding by combining steganography & extended
visual cryptography. Visual cryptography was invented by Moni Naor & Adi Shamir in 1994. Visual cryptography hide secret
image within one or more images & then generate shares. For share generation this paper uses Visual Information Pixel (VIP) &
error diffusion technique.

Keywords: Steganography, Visual Cryptography, Share Generation, VIP, Extended Visual cryptography,
Cryptography
--------------------------------------------------------------------***---------------------------------------------------------------------1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Visual Cryptography
Visual cryptography is a secret sharing scheme proposed by
Naor & Shamir [1] in 1994. In Visual cryptography secret
images are divided into n number of shares & separately
shares reveal no information about the secret image. Each
share looks like a collection of random pixels & appear
meaningless. These shares are distributed to k participants &
recovery of the secret image is done by superimposing these
shares. For decryption in traditional cryptography, require a
key, but in visual cryptography it is done by the human
visual system. In other words, visual cryptography does not
require any software or complex computation technique for
decryption. The summary of Naor and Shamirs schemes is
(1) The secret data is separated into n shares.
(2) Any k or more than k shares can recover the secret.
(3) Any k-1 or fewer than k shares cannot recover the secret
data.

pixels. These shares are distributed to two participants. Now

separately these shares will not reveal anything about the
secret image. After stacking the share 1 & share 2, secret
image can be recovered.
Table 1: Construction of (2, 2) Visual Cryptography
Scheme (VCS)

1.2 Basic Model of Visual Cryptography

Following is the process of share generation. Each pixel p
from the secret image is encoded into m black and white
subpixels in each share. If pixel p is white or black one of
the six columns from the Table 1 is randomly selected.
Regardless of the value of p it is replaced by a set of 4
subpixels two of them black & two white. Now the subpixel
in the share gives no clue about the original pixel p of the
secret image.
Fig. 1 shows the basic 2-out-of-2 scheme of visual
cryptography. Here the secret image is divided into two
shares which look like a random collection of black & white

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IJRET: International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology

eISSN: 2319-1163 | pISSN: 2321-7308

Fig 1: Example of 2-out-of-2 scheme. (a) Binary secret

image. (b) Encrypted share 1. (c) Encrypted share 2. (d)
Decrypted secret message.

1.3 Basic Schemes of Visual Cryptography

1.

2.

3.

(2,2) VCS This is the simplest & less secured

scheme of visual cryptography. In this scheme
secret image is encoded into 2 shares & also
distrubuted to only two participants. For decryption
two shares are overlaid. This scheme can be
implemented by encoding each pixel of the secret
image into either 2 subpixels or 4 subpixels as
shown in the figure 2.
(n,n) VCS This scheme encode the secret image
into n number of shares. For decryption it also
require all of the n shares. If we stack less than n
shares than it will not reveal anything about the
secret image.
(k,n) VCS This scheme encrypt the secret image
into n number of shares & distribute theses shares
to n participants. For decryption it require k number
of shares i.e. k<n & k-1 shares will not provide any
information.

Fig 2

(a) Secret Image

(b) First Cover Image

(c) Second Cover Image

1.4 Extended Visual Cryptography

Ateniese, Blundo & Stinson [2] proposed Extended Visual
Cryptography. In EVC, shares contain secret information
but these shares are meaningful share. In EVC, each share is
some meaningful image rather than random collection of
black & white pixels.

(d) Share1

(e) Share 2

(f) Recovered Secret Image

Fig 3: Example of (2, 2) EVC Scheme

1.5 Steganography
Steganography is the art & science of passing information or
hiding information in such a manner that the existence of
information is known to the intended recipient only. The
word steganography derived from Greek means Covered
Writing.

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IJRET: International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology

eISSN: 2319-1163 | pISSN: 2321-7308

Steganography uses various methods for hiding data.

Previously our ancestors also used this method for secret
communication. The media they were using are invisible
inks, microdots, etc. today steganography uses test, images
& soud media for hiding data.

3.1 Data Hiding

There are number of ways to hide information in images.

The most popular one are Least Significant Bit(LSB)
Substitution, Masking & Filtering Technique.

Following is the working of the algorithm.

First retrive the pixel info i.e the R,G,B values of the
pixel.

Then convert the secret data into their ASCII

equivalents, this forms a byte stream.

Apply Hash function on that byte stream which will

produce a pseudo byte stream

This pseudo byte stream is hided in the LSBs of the

image.

2. RELATED WORK
Visual Cryptography is proposed by Naor & Shamir [1] in
1994. In Visual Cryptography, secret image is encoded into
two or more images called as shares. These shares are
similar to random noise like images. (2,2) is the masic
model of visual cryptography.
Ateniese, Blundo & Stinson[2] in 1996 proposed Extended
Visual cryptography which contain meaningful share
images.
Upto 1997, Visual Cryptography schemes developed for
black & white images only. Verheul & Tilborg[3] developed
the first colored Visual Cryptography Scheme. But in this
scheme share generated is meaningless.
Chang & Tsai [5] develop a color visual cryptography
scheme & also generate meaningful share. In this scheme,
secret color image is encoded in two color image called as
cover images. This scheme uses predefined color Index
Table. The disadvantage of this scheme is that it requires
more storage space to store color index table. This
disadvantage is overcome by Chin-Chen Chang et al. [6].
Nakajima & Yamaguchi [7] proposed Extended Visual
Cryptography for natural images. This scheme produces
meaningful binary shares.

This is the first module & it based on the steganography. In

this secret data is hided in one color image using text
embedding algorithm.

3.2 Generation of Shares

This paper uses VIP synchronization & error diffusion
technique for share generation. VIP synchronization, this
method, keep possession of pixels having visual information
of original images & error diffusion technique is used to
produce share of good quality.

3.3 Data Extraction

In data Extraction module, apply the text extracting
algorithm on the recovered secret image.
Following is the working of the algorithm.
1) First retrive the pixel info i.e the R,G,B values of the
pixel, this is the pseudo byte stream.
2) Then perform XOR operation between pseudo byte
stream & Hash function to generate ASCII characters.
3) Then convert the ASCII byte stream to text string.

4. SIMULATED RESULTS

Hou[8] proposed the visual cryptography scheme for gray

level images. This scheme is based on the halftone
technique & color decomposition method.

3. PROPOSED WORK

Fig.5 Data Hiding Screen

Fig 4: Framework of the proposed system

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IJRET: International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology

eISSN: 2319-1163 | pISSN: 2321-7308

Fig.6 Secret File

Fig: 9 Error diffused for share 1

Fig 7 Selection of cover images

Fig: 10 Error diffused for share 2

Fig 8 Generation of Shares

Fig: 11 Recovered Secret File

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IJRET: International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology

5. ANALYSIS OF THE RESULT

Following table shows the MSE & PSNR for the share1 &
share 2.
Table 2 Result analysis of meaningful shares & their PSNR
Sr.
No.

Color
image

shares

PSNR

MSE

Lena

30.6898 dB

55.4758

Baboon

31.1892 dB

49.4488

Pepper

30.6303 dB

56.242

6. CONCLUSION
This paper presents a novel approach for hiding data in color
images by integrating steganography & extended visual
cryptography. In Visual cryptography secret images are
divided into n number of shares
For hiding data in color images, this paper uses text
embedding algorithm & then for share generation which is a
visual cryptography part, uses VIP synchronization & error
diffusion technique. VIP synchronization, this method, keep
possession of place of pixels having visual information of
original images & error diffusion technique is used to
produce share of good quality.

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