F5084048619

A New Robust Method of Hiding Text for Secure Data Transfer Based on Secret Key and Hash Function
Kalaichelvi V¹, Manimozhi K², Meenakshi P³, Manikandan H⁴, Swaminathan S^5
1Kalaichelvi V, Senior Assistant Professor, Department of CSE, Sastra Deemed University, Kumbakonam, Tanjore (Tamil Nadu), India.
²Manimozhi K, Assistant Professor, Department of CSE, Sastra Deemed University, Kumbakonam, Tanjore (Tamil Nadu), India.
³Meenakshi P, Assistant Professor, Department of CSE, Sastra Deemed University, Kumbakonam, Tanjore (Tamil Nadu), India.
⁴Manikandan H, Assistant Professor, Department of CSE, Sastra Deemed University, Kumbakonam, Tanjore (Tamil Nadu), India.
⁵Swaminathan S, Assistant Professor, Department of ECE, Sastra Deemed University, Kumbakonam, Tanjore (Tamil Nadu), India.
Manuscript received on 01 May 2019 | Revised Manuscript received on 15 May 2019 | Manuscript published on 30 May 2019 | PP: 2184-2187 | Volume-8 Issue-7, May 2019 | Retrieval Number: F5084048619/19©BEIESP
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Abstract: There are many steganographic algorithms which are reliable to send messages confidentially to the other end. But every algorithm has a loop hole which is used to retrieve the message back. To overcome this issue, this paper introduces the concept of hash function in steganography. To achieve this, it recommends only the use of colour images. First retrieving the LSB’s of the blue pixel, getting a 32 bit input from the user, these two values are considered as the secret key. The secret message which is to be hidden is also obtained from the user and converted to ASCII byte stream. A Hash function is performed between the blue pixel value and the 32 bit secret key. This gives the hash byte stream as output. This is equal to the length of the secret message in bits. An XOR operation is performed between the ASCII byte stream of the secret message and the hash byte stream. This results in pseudo byte stream. Each bit of the pseudo byte stream is replaced in LSB’s of the blue pixel to obtain stego-image. On the receiver’s side the receiver should know the 32 bit secret key and the message length. Once it is known, the image to be encrypted is selected, 32 bit secret key and the message length is entered. The same process hash process is done and the output byte stream is converted from their ASCII value and the secret message is displayed to the receiver. If the receiver enters a wrong secret key he will never know the secret message and since the hash function is used, it is impossible to trackback the algorithm. The .png format offers lossless compression and thus rendering a safe transmission of the secret message. Thus, the function is safe, secure, reliable, simple and cost effective.
Keyword: Hash Function, LSB, Cipher, Secret Key.
Scope of the Article: Database Theory and Application.