International Journal of Signal Processing, Image Processing and Pattern Recognition

Vol. 8, No. 5 (2015), pp. 259-266

http://dx.doi.org/10.14257/ijsip.2015.8.5.27

Dual Layer Security of data using LSB Image Steganography

Method and AES Encryption Algorithm
Satwinder Singh and Varinder Kaur Attri
Computer Science & Engineering Department
GNDU RC, Jalandhar, India
[email protected], [email protected]
Abstract
In todays scenario security of data is very big challenge in any communication.
Numerous data security and hiding algorithms have been developed in the last decade.
The Digital image Steganography is science of hiding sensitive information in another
transmission medium to achieve secure and secret communication. In this paper we
present the dual layer of security to the data, in which first layer is to encode data using
Least Significant Bit image steganography method and in the second layer encrypt the
data using Advance Encryption Standard Algorithm. Steganography does not replace the
encryption of data, instead it provides extra security feature to it. In our work secret text
message is hiding behind the digital image file and this image file is then encrypted using
AES encryption algorithm.
Keywords: Steganography, AES Algorithm, Digital Image, LSB, Encryption, Security

1. Introduction
1.1. LSB Image Steganography
The word "Steganography" is a Greek word which means "covered or hidden writing".
In other words Steganography is technique of hiding information behind the cover
medium. Steganography can be done with Text, images, video, audio media and protocol
steganography. In our work we are going to use digital image steganography because
digital images have a large amount of redundant data and for this reason it is possible to
hide message inside image file [1]. Image Steganography requires following elements to
carry out the work:
Cover medium: It is an image that holds secret message.
The Secret message: it is message to be transmitted. It can be plain or encrypted
text, images or any other data.
The Stego-key: it is key used to hide the message (May or may not be used).
Data is hidden in such a way that nobody notices its presence in cover medium. The
main motive of steganography is to hide the existence of communication [2].
1.2. Advance Encryption Standard (AES-128 bits)
Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), also known as Rijindael is used for
securing information. AES is a symmetric block cipher that has been analyzed
extensively and is used widely now-a-days. AES, symmetric key encryption
algorithm is used with key length of 128-bits for this purpose. High security,
mathematical soundness, resistance to all known attacks, high encryption speed,
worldwide royalty free use, suitability across wide range of hardware and software are the
characteristics of AES algorithm. Loopholes are there in DES and 3DES encryption

ISSN: 2005-4254 IJSIP

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International Journal of Signal Processing, Image Processing and Pattern Recognition

Vol. 8, No. 5 (2015)

algorithm but AES algorithm does not have such loopholes so far [3]. The basic structure
of AES is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Basic Structure of AES 128 Bit Algorithm

AES Algorithm consists of mainly four transformations, namely:
SubBytes: In this transformation S-Box is used to perform byte by byte
substitution of the block. Non-Linearity in cipher is achieved by this
transformation. Multiplicative inverse over GF (28) is used to derive the S-Box.
ShiftRows: This transformation is performed on rows of the states. First row will
remain unchanged but second, third and fourth row will be changed by cyclic one
byte shift, two byte and three byte shift respectively. This operation makes
columns linearly independent thats why AES degenerates four independent block
ciphers.
MixColumns: This transformation is performed on every column in the state.
Invertible linear transformation is used to combine the four bytes of the each
column of the state. This transformation is used to achieve diffusion in the cipher.
AddRoundKey: Round key is combined with each byte of the state using bitwise
XOR operation. 4X4 matrix is used to represent the original key consisting of 128
bits. This 4 word key is converted to a 43 words key.

2. Previous Work
There are lots of methods available that can be used to implement steganography using
various multimedia content.

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S.M. M. Karim et al. [4] proposed a new approach that provides very good security to
data. They use LSB approach with secret key. This secret key is used to hide the sensitive
information and this information is stored on different LSBs of image.
On the bases of Human visual system (HVS) X. Qing, et al., [5] proposed a new
technique in which sensitive information is embedded in all planes of RGB components
of an image.
In [6] author proposes an enhanced LSB algorithm for image steganography. In this
proposed work they only embed secret information in blue component of the RGB model.
This method reduces the leap in color scale because only blue components are used to
embed the secret information.
H. Yang, et al., [7] presented a new adaptive LSB based method for image
steganography. It uses the pixel adjustment technique for better stego image quality. This
adaptive LSB substitution results in high hidden capacity.
Authors in [8] use the vector quantization table to embed the secret information by
which the hidden capacity and stego size is increased.
Nouf A. Al-Otaibi, et al., [9] designed a new system called 2-layer security system for
hiding the sensitive information on personal computers. They divide the system in two
layer namely cryptography layer and steganography layer. For steganography layer LSB
algorithm is used. This system is designed on visual basic platform. Authors also done
study on improving hidden capacity.
In [10] LSB based image steganography method is proposed. To hide the data common
bit pattern is used. According to the message and the pattern bits LSBs of pixels are
modified. This method has low hidden capacity.
Kamali, S.h., et al., [11] analyze and present the modified AES image encryption
algorithm (MAES) which provide greater security to image data. The modification done
in ShiftRow transformation. The results also prove that the MAES gives better encryption
results than original AES algorithm, against various statistical attacks.

3. Proposed Work
Data security is a biggest concern of any organization. We propose the work called
Dual Layer Security of data using LSB Image Steganography Method and AES
Encryption Algorithm. The main idea of our work is to provide dual layer of security to
sensitive data or messages by hiding it behind the digital images using LSB image
Steganography algorithm and the second layer encrypt this stego image using AES-128
bits encryption algorithm.
3.1. Structure of Proposed System
In our work we utilize both cryptography and steganography. In order to get more
security to the data we combine both the technique. Proposed System consists of two
layers, namely Steganography Layer and Encryption/Decryption Layer.
3.1.1. Steganography Layer: In this process first we have to provide two inputs to the
LSB steganography algorithm. First input is cover image in which secret message is
embedded and second is secret message itself. Output of this process is Stego Image
(image with secret message). Figure 2(a) shows Embedding and encryption process and
Figure 2(b) depicts how message extraction and decryption is done.

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(a)

(b)

Figure 2. (a) Embedding and Encryption Process (b) Extraction and

Decryption Process
The Steganography layer in our work uses the Least Significant Bit image
steganography algorithm. If the LSB of the pixel value of cover image C(i,j) is equal to
the message bit SM of secret massage to be embedded, C(i,j) remain unchanged; if not,
set the LSB of C(i, j) to SM. The message embedding Procedure is given below:
S(i,j) = C(i,j) - 1, if LSB(C(i,j)) = 1 and SM = 0
S(i,j) = C(i,j) + 1, if LSB(C(i,j)) = 0 and SM = 1
S(I,j) = C(i,j), if LSB(C(i,j)) = SM
Where LSB(C(i, j)) stands for the LSB of cover image C(i,j) and SM is the next
message bit to be embedded. S(i,j) is the stego image. The Basic idea behind LSB
algorithm is explained by an example of hiding alphabet S whose ASCII code is 83 and
in binary form it is 1010011. These binary bits are embedded into Least Significant Bit of
Pixel value. Take a three pixel Values as follows:
Pixels before Embedding:
Pixel 1: 10001100
Pixel 2: 01010100
Pixel 3: 11101000

01001111
11010101
11110110

00001111
11011010
10000001

Pixels after Embedding 1010011, i.e., alphabet S using LSB Algorithm:

Pixel 1: 10001101
Pixel 2: 01010100
Pixel 3: 11101001

01001110
11010100
11110110

00001111
11011011
10000001

In the above example note that only five bits have been changed out of nine bits. It
depends upon the secret message that is to be embedded.
Digital images can be of two types 8 bit or 24 bit. In 8 bits image only one bit of
information can be embedded. But in 24 bits image we can embed three bits of
information in each pixel as shown in above example. A picture of resolution of 800600
can store 1,440,00 bits of embedded data [12]. Changing the LSB of each pixel does not
affect the appearance of the original image and hence the Stego-image looks almost
similar to the cover image. LSB is simplest algorithm with high payload capacity.

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3.1.2. Encryption/Decryption Layer: The core of second layer in our system is AES
128 bits Encryption algorithm. The output of first layer is Stego image with embedded
secret message in it. In this layer we encrypt the stego image with AES algorithm by
providing 128 bits public key for encryption. In the receiver end reverse process is
applied by decrypting the stego image.

4. Implementation and Discussion

The dual layer security of data using LSB and AES is implemented in JAVA
programming using NetBeans IDE. We use java language for implementation due to its
flexibility and robustness and many more useful features. The main objective of this
implementation is to study the dual layer security system in greater details and to analyze
the various situations to enhance its importance in academic research field as well as
industrial research. Application starts its work with steganography layer by asking cover
media i.e. RGB image in which secret message is to be embedded and the secret message
itself. Images are of different formats such JPEG, BMP or PNG etc. They make use of
different Compression techniques such as Lossy and Lossless [13]. In our work we make
use of lossless compression Images i.e. Bitmap (.bmp) and Portable Network Graphic
(.png). Each RGB image has three color components (Red, Green, and Blue) each of
which is 8 bits [14]. So we hide the data in every least significant bit of each color
component to achieve steganography.
4.1. Embedding Data using LSB Embedding Process
The implementation interface of dual layer data security system is shown in the
following figures. There are open, embed, save file and reset button to carry out the
process. In Figure 3 cover image is the original image and after embedding the message, it
is shown on right hand side of the interface under the stego image block. Now the both
images look similar but the stego image has that secret message embedded in it.

Figure 3. Steganography Layer (Embedding Process)

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4.2. Encrypting /Decrypting Stego Image using AES 128 bit Algorithm
Encryption/Decryption layer shown in Figure 4. We provide stego image and 16
characters (128 bits) encryption key as input to this layer and the output of this layer is
encrypted stego image shown in figure 6(c). Stego image is encrypted using AES 128 bit
algorithm because of its numerous advantages over other encryption algorithms and there
is no brute force and cryptanalysis has been encountered on AES [15].

Figure 4. Encryption/Decryption Layer

On the receiver end the user use same 128 bit encryption key to decrypt the stego
image. Output of this decryption process is original stego image. This stego image is then
provided to steganography layer to get the desire secret message.
4.3. Extracting data using LSB Extraction Process
Extraction process starts with providing the decrypted stego image to the system. After
clicking on decode button user will get the desire secret message that was embedded
using LSB steganography during embedding process. Figure 5 shows the interface of
system that is used to extract the message using decrypted stego image.

Figure 5. Steganography Layer (Extraction Process)

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4.4. Comparison between Cover Image, stego and Encrypted Stego Image
In this section all the three possible images are observed, i.e., cover image, stego and
encrypted stego image as shown in Figure 6(a), 6(b), and 6(c). As we observed that there
is no difference in both the stego and cover image. Nobody can observe the usage of
steganography to hide the data in cover image and changes are so minimal that human eye
cant even see. Changes in image are done at pixel level that is almost unnoticeable which
leads to high security. After the encryption of stego image, it becomes encrypted as
shown in Figure 6(c).

(a)

(b)

(c)

Figure 6. (a) Cover Image (b) Stego image (c) Encrypted Stego Image

5. Conclusion and Future Work

In our work we have presented how to provide the dual layer security to sensitive data.
We combine both the steganography and cryptography (Encryption/ Decryption) together
to achieve desire results. The system is implemented on Java platform using Netbeans
IDE. For image steganography we have used simplest yet effective method called LSB
image steganography algorithm. For the encryption/decryption layer we have use error
less AES encryption algorithm. In future work, we try to work on steganography layer by
enhancing the current LSB algorithm. We can also work on other steganography
techniques to improve upon the results. We can also test our test with other symmetric
and asymmetric key encryption algorithms.

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