Customized and Secure Image Steganography through Least Significant Bit Replacement

Abstract

Steganography is the process of hiding a secret message within a larger one in such a way that someone can not know the presence or contents of hidden message. The purpose of Steganography is to maintain secret communication between two parties. The basic structure of Steganography is made up of three components: the “carrier”, the message, and the key. The carrier can be a painting, a digital image, an mp3 and even a TCP/IP packet among other things. It is the object that will „carry‟ hidden message. A key is used to decode/decipher/discover hidden message. This can be anything from a password, a pattern, a black-light, or even lemon juice. This system presents how Steganography is used in a modern context while a practical understanding of what Steganography is providing how to accomplish it. This paper describes the design of a data hiding structure using Steganography. In this paper, we focus on the use of Steganography within digital images using Least Significant Bit (LSB) substitution.