Showing papers on "Cover (telecommunications) published in 2013"

A Survey of Image Steganography Techniques

Abstract: Abspract Steganography is going to gain its importance due to the exponential growth and secret communication of potential computer users over the internet. It can also be defined as the study of invisible communication that usually deals with the ways of hiding the existence of the communicated message. Generally data embedding is achieved in communication, image, text, voice or multimedia content for copyright, military communication, authentication and many other purposes. In image Steganography, secret communication is achieved to embed a message into cover image (used as the carrier to embed message into) and generate a stegoimage (generated image which is carrying a hidden message). In this paper we have critically analyzed various steganographic techniques and also have covered steganography overview its major types, classification, applications.

Enhancing the Security and Quality of LSB Based Image Steganography

Abstract: This work is concerned with implementing Steganography for images, with an improvement in both security and image quality. The one that is implemented here is a variation of plain LSB (Least Significant Bit) algorithm. The stego-image quality is improved by using bit-inversion technique. In this technique, certain least significant bits of cover image are inverted after LSB steganography that co-occur with some pattern of other bits and that reduces the number of modified LSBs. Thus, less number of least significant bits of cover image is altered in comparison to plain LSB method, improving the PSNR of stegoimage. By storing the bit patterns for which LSBs are inverted, message image can be obtained correctly. To improve the robustness of steganography, RC4 algorithm has been used to achieve the randomization in hiding message image bits into cover image pixels instead of storing them sequentially. This process randomly disperses the bits of the message in the cover image and thus, making it harder for unauthorized people to extract the original message. The proposed method shows good enhancement to Least Significant Bit technique in consideration to security as well as image quality.

A Secure Image Steganography Based on RSA Algorithm and Hash-LSB Technique

Abstract: Steganography is a method of hiding secret messages in a cover object while communication takes place between sender and receiver. Security of confidential information has always been a major issue from the past times to the present time. It has always been the interested topic for researchers to develop secure techniques to send data without revealing it to anyone other than the receiver. Therefore from time to time researchers have developed many techniques to fulfill secure transfer of data and steganography is one of them. In this paper we have proposed a new technique of image steganography i.e. Hash-LSB with RSA algorithm for providing more security to data as well as our data hiding method. The proposed technique uses a hash function to generate a pattern for hiding data bits into LSB of RGB pixel values of the cover image. This technique makes sure that the message has been encrypted before hiding it into a cover image. If in any case the cipher text got revealed from the cover image, the intermediate person other than receiver can't access the message as it is in encrypted form.

Text Steganographic Approaches: A Comparison

Abstract: This paper presents three novel approaches of text steganography. The first approach uses the theme of missing letter puzzle where each character of message is hidden by missing one or more letters in a word of cover. The average Jaro score was found to be 0.95 indicating closer similarity between cover and stego file. The second approach hides a message in a wordlist where ASCII value of embedded character determines length and starting letter of a word. The third approach conceals a message, without degrading cover, by using start and end letter of words of the cover. For enhancing the security of secret message, the message is scrambled using one-time pad scheme before being concealed and cipher text is then concealed in cover. We also present an empirical comparison of the proposed approaches with some of the popular text steganographic approaches and show that our approaches outperform the existing approaches.

Cover your ACKs: pitfalls of covert channel censorship circumvention

Abstract: In response to increasingly sophisticated methods of blocking access to censorship circumvention schemes such as Tor, recently proposed systems such as Skypemorph, FreeWave, and CensorSpoofer have used voice and video conferencing protocols as "cover channels" to hide proxy connections. We demonstrate that even with perfect emulation of the cover channel, these systems can be vulnerable to attacks that detect or disrupt the covert communications while having no effect on legitimate cover traffic. Our attacks stem from differences in the channel requirements for the cover protocols, which are peer-to-peer and loss tolerant, and the covert traffic, which is client-proxy and loss intolerant. These differences represent significant limitations and suggest that such protocols are a poor choice of cover channel for general censorship circumvention schemes.

Text Steganographic Approaches: A Comparison

Abstract: This paper presents three novel approaches of text steganography. The first approach uses the theme of missing letter puzzle where each character of message is hidden by missing one or more letters in a word of cover. The average Jaro score was found to be 0.95 indicating closer similarity between cover and stego file. The second approach hides a message in a wordlist where ASCII value of embedded character determines length and starting letter of a word. The third approach conceals a message, without degrading cover, by using start and end letter of words of the cover. For enhancing the security of secret message, the message is scrambled using one-time pad scheme before being concealed and cipher text is then concealed in cover. We also present an empirical comparison of the proposed approaches with some of the popular text steganographic approaches and show that our approaches outperform the existing approaches .

A secure video steganography with encryption based on LSB technique

Abstract: Need of hiding information from intruders has been around since ancient times. Nowadays Digital media is getting advanced like text, image, audio, video etc. To maintain the secrecy of information, different methods of hiding have been evolved. One of them is Steganography, which means hiding information under some other information without noticeable change in cover information. Recently Video Steganography has become a boon for providing large amount of data to be transferred secretly. Video is simply a sequence of images, hence much space is available in between for hiding information. In proposed scheme video steganography is used to hide a secret video stream in cover video stream. Each frame of secret video will be broken into individual components then converted into 8-bit binary values, and encrypted using XOR with secret key and encrypted frames will be hidden in the least significant bit of each frames using sequential encoding of Cover video. To enhance more security each bit of secret frames will be stored in cover frames following a pattern BGRRGBGR.

Display device, and method and apparatus for manufacturing the same

Abstract: A display device, and a method and apparatus for manufacturing the display device, are provided. The display device includes a cover window including a curved portion, and a display panel smaller in at least one of length or width than the cover window and laminated on a flat portion of the cover window.

A secure data communication system using cryptography and steganography

Abstract: The information security has become one of the most significant problems in data communication. So it becomes an inseparable part of data communication. In order to address this problem, cryptography and steganography can be combined. This paper proposes a secure communication system. It employs cryptographic algorithm together with steganography. The jointing of these techniques provides a robust and strong communication system that able to withstand against attackers. In this paper, the filter bank cipher is used to encrypt the secret text message, it provide high level of security, scalability and speed. After that, a discrete wavelet transforms (DWT) based steganography is employed to hide the encrypted message in the cover image by modifying the wavelet coefficients. The performance of the proposed system is evaluated using peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) and histogram analysis. The simulation results show that, the proposed system provides high level of security.

Case for a communication device

Abstract: A case (110) for a communication device (134), having two or more portions movable with respect to each other. A first case portion (112) may cover a particular component or area of the communication device. Accessories or auxiliary structures may be available for use with the particular component, and may be configured to attach to or be used with a communication device housing of a particular size or shape. The first case portion may be moved relative to a second case portion (114), thereby exposing the component or area of the communication device for use with the accessory.

Social cover feed interface

Abstract: In one embodiment, user information for a user of a social-networking system is retrieved. Device information is determined for a device associated with the user. Based on the device information or the user information, content associated with the user is retrieved. Using the retrieved content, a content board is composed for use in a cover feed displayed on the device The content board may comprise a background image. Finally, the content board is sent to the device. In one embodiment, updated information for content associated with the user is retrieved. The updated information may be associated with content that was included in a previously-provided content board. Using the updated information, an update to the previously-provided content boards is composed. Finally, the updates may be sent to the previously-provided content boards to the device.

Hiding an Image inside another Image using Variable-Rate Steganography

Abstract: A new algorithm is presented for hiding a secret image in the least significant bits of a cover image. The images used may be color or grayscale images. The number of bits used for hiding changes according to pixel neighborhood information of the cover image. The exclusive-or (XOR) of a pixel's neighbors is used to determine the smoothness of the neighborhood. A higher XOR value indicates less smoothness and leads to using more bits for hiding without causing noticeable degradation to the cover image. Experimental results are presented to show that the algorithm generally hides images without significant changes to the cover image, where the results are sensitive to the smoothness of the cover image. Keywords—image steganography; information hiding; LSB method I. INTRODUCTION Steganography is a method of hiding a secret message inside other information so that the existence of the hidden message is concealed. Cryptography, in contrast, is a method of scrambling hidden information so that unauthorized persons will not be able to recover it. The main advantage steganography has over cryptography is that it hides the actual existence of secret information, making it an unlikely target of spying attacks. To achieve higher security, a combination of steganography with cryptography may be used. In this paper, a new algorithm is presented to hide information in the least significant bits (LSBs) of image pixels. The algorithm uses a variable number of hiding bits for each pixel, where the number of bits is chosen based on the amount of visible degradation they may cause to the pixel compared to its neighbors. The amount of visible degradation is expected to be higher for smooth areas, so the number of hiding bits is chosen to be proportional to the exclusive-or (XOR) of the pixel's neighbors. Analysis showed effectiveness of the algorithm in minimizing degradation while it was sensitive to the smoothness of cover images.

Wireless enclosure for testing electronic devices

Abstract: A system, method, and enclosure for testing wireless devices. The enclosure includes a number of walls enclosing a testing space. The enclosure also includes a sliding cover secured between the two of the number of walls. The enclosure also includes one or more radio frequency layers disposed on the number of walls and the sliding cover.

Steganography based on random pixel selection for efficient data hiding

Abstract: In this paper we present a novel steganographic approach to increase the security of the data hidden in a cover RGB image. Here we have used LSB insertion method that hides the bits of a secret message into the least significant bit in the red plane of the pixels within a cover image. The pixels are selected by using a random number generator. It is commonly seen that the changes in the LSB of the colour cannot be detected due to noise that is presents in the digital images by the human visual system. The central idea of the proposed method is to increase security, so the data is embedded only into the red plane of the image. We have also explained the method that extracts the hidden message at the receiving end using a key. The main objective of the paper is to combine both the preferences and the resistance to the visual and statistical attacks for a large amount of the data to be hidden in a cover image.

Hiding large amount of data using a new approach of video steganography

Abstract: Steganography has become one of the most robust technique to transmit secrete or sensitive information between parties by concealing the information in some file which may appear to be of no importance to any interceptor. In this paper, we have used video file as the cover file and embedded the information in the frames where the scene has changed in the video sequence using the Least Significant Bit (LSB) replacement technique. For additional security we have randomized the pixel positions where the information bits are embedded by generating an indexed based chaotic sequence and arranging the pixel position according to the sequence. The experimental result shows that the original cover video and stego video are visually identical i.e. there is no perceptual difference between the two videos.

Multiple functions wall cover plate has built-in USB and light means

Abstract: The multiple functions wall cover plate has built-in USB and light means connect by prong means to existing wall inner-kit's receptacle to get AC power source to multiple function wall cover's circuit(s) to drive each circuit for predetermined functions. The said cover plate fasten by screw, prong or false prong to hold on inner-kit's holder and overlay at least one of the inner receptacle to offer people safety and quickly USB charger with desire light illumination and add extra functions.

DWT Based Invisible Watermarking Technique for Digital Images

Abstract: The two most aspects of any image based steganographic system are the quality of the stego-image & the capacity of the cover image. A lossless data hiding scheme is presented based on quantized coefficients of discrete wavelet transform (DWT) in the frequency domain to embed secret message. Using the quantized DWT based method, we embed secret data into the successive zero coefficients of the medium- high frequency components in each reconstructed block for 3- level 2-D DWT of cover image. The procedures of the proposed system mainly include embedding & extracting. The original image can be recovered losslessly when the secret data had been extracted from stego-image. Information hiding is a technique in the field of information security presently. It hides the existence of important information into cover-object to form stego-object. A cover image is an image file into which a secret message will be embedded. A stego image is an image file which has been altered to contain a message. The Steganography is used for secret data transmission. In steganography the secret image is embedded in the cover image and transmitted in such a way that the existence of information is undetectable. The digital images, videos, sound files and other computer files can be used as carrier to embed the information. The object in which the secret information is hidden is called covert object. Stego image is referred as an image that is obtained by embedding secret image into covert image. The hidden message may be plain text, cipher text or images etc Steganography is a method of hiding secret information using cover images. Audio steganography embeds the message into a cover audio file as noise at a frequency out of human hearing range. One major category, perhaps the most difficult kind of steganography is text steganography or linguistic steganography because due to the lack of redundant information in a text compared to an image or audio. Data hiding methods for images can be categorized into two categories. They are spatial-domain and frequency-domain ones. In the spatial domain, the secret messages are embedded in the image pixels directly. The most common methods are histogram-based and least-significant bit (LSB) techniques in the spatial domain. Steganographic model is proposed that is based on variable-six LSB insertion to maximize the embedding capacity while maintaining image fidelity.

Method and system for automatic generation of context-aware cover message

Abstract: One embodiment provides a system that facilitates secure communication between a sending device and a receiving device. During operation, the system first transmits an encrypted message to a secure message server, wherein the encrypted message is addressed to the receiving device. The system then generates a cover message which indicates that the encrypted message is available for the receiving device. The system then transmits a digest of the cover message to a cover message server and makes the cover message available for the receiving device, thereby allowing the receiving device to confirm with the cover message server whether the cover message indicates availability of the encrypted message for the receiving device, and allowing the receiving device to obtain the encrypted message from the secure message server.

Porous cover structures for mobile device audio

Abstract: A method is provided according to an example embodiment of the present invention for providing a porous cover structure for a mobile device for use with integrated audio components. Sound inlets and/or outlets in a mobile device cover may be replaced by one or more areas of microholes which are small enough to be invisible or almost invisible to the naked eye. The porous region may be located and dimensioned in a way that provides the best compromise between industrial design, mechanics, and audio requirements. Further, the audio component mechanics beneath the cover may be modified to take additional advantage of the porous cover structure, and the porous structure may also be used as an improved dust and liquid protection feature. A corresponding housing component and apparatus are also provided.

A DWT Based Perfect Secure and High Capacity Image Steganography Method

Abstract: In this paper, a Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) based perfect secure and high capacity image steganography method is presented. This method is used for steganography of the pictorial messages in a cover image (carrier data). First, the message data and the cover image data are transformed using Haar filters based DWT, and then, the message DWT coefficients are embedded to the cover image DWT coefficients. Therefore, some DWT based different message data embedding approaches are studied. The robustness and image brightness are considered as the main criteria. Hence, the PSNR is considered as an objective criteria and the image brightness is considered as a subjective criteria for evaluation. The simulations results confirm that not only the proposed method is a high capacity image steganography method, but also using this method, the cover image data remains unchanged. Furthermore, if the message data size to be increased, after the message data extraction, there will be existing high PSNR cover image data.

Amplifying cover for a portable audio device

Abstract: An amplifying cover for an audio device that enhances the audio output of the device, such as voice or music, louder and clearer, without adding to the bulk of the device. The cover redirects the audio output of the device to a different location that enhances the ergonomics of the device. The amplifying cover can redirect the sound (while also amplifying it) to the top of the device, closer to the user's ear, or to the side of the device. The amplifying cover can redirect the sound to a plurality of different directions, making it easier to make conference calls. The cover is a protective case for an electronic device that also amplifies the sound produced by the electronic device. The cover provides a portable and compact acoustic amplifier for an electronic device that can be permanently or semi-permanently attached to the electronic device.

ECR (encryption with cover text and reordering) based text steganography

Abstract: This paper presents ECR(Encryption with Cover Text and Reordering) based text steganography approach which works on simple encryption technique using ExOR Operation of two characters and reorder them which would be more secured and hard to fetch original message from enciphered text. Our encrypted text is reordered using Eight bit random key for hiding our data in a more secure way. Our Eight bit random key will contain four number of zero and four number of one where one bit describes our encrypted text and zero bit describes cover text. We are also merging our random key with our enciphered text at the last. We are also presenting comparison of our proposed approach with some of the previous popular text steganographic approaches with load time and also the data which will be required to be enciphered using n bit cover text. At the last we are showing that how our approaches are performing best in the existing approaches. As our approach generates 2n bytes where n are no. of bytes in our plain text and n bytes for cover text and reordering using random key.

Removable protective cover with embedded proximity sensors

Abstract: A removable cover for a handheld electronic device, including a protective cover that at least partially covers rear and side surfaces of a handheld electronic device, a plurality of proximity sensors mounted in the cover for detecting user gestures performed outside of the electronic device, a battery, wireless communication circuitry, and a processor configured to operate the proximity sensors, and to operate the wireless communication circuitry to transmit commands to the electronic device based on gestures detected by the proximity sensors.

Multiband Slot Antennas for Metal Back Cover Mobile Handsets

Abstract: New multiband integrated slot antennas for mobile handsets are presented for GSM, DCS, PCS and WCDMA, GPS and WIFI 2.4 GHz. Prototypes, both simulated and measured, are realised in the metal back cover away from the hand. Perturbations due to tissue proximity are simulated using a CTIA compliant hand phantom.

Review of an Improved Audio Steganographic Technique over LSB through Random Based Approach

Abstract: In this digital world, huge amount information exchange takes place due to enhanced facilities of networking. Therefore it is necessary to secure the information which we transmit. The need for secured communication introduces the concept of "Steganography". Steganography, the word itself indicates that information within information; it is the best technique to hide the secret information by using cover objects. Secret information may be a text, image or an audio file. But as per secret information format there are different steganographic techniques are available. This paper proposes a method of audio steganographic system that provides a unique platform to hide the secret information in audio file though the information is in text, image or in an audio format. So there is no need to go for different techniques of steganography as per information format. Many steganographic methods follow the LSB insertion technique to hide the secret information. But there are many statistical techniques available to determine if a stego object has been subjected to LSB Embedding. The proposed system hides secret information in audio file through random based approach and provides security by using PKE algorithm. This paper focuses on combining the strengths of cryptography and steganography for secured communication.

Steganography Technique for Hiding Text Information in Color Image using Improved LSB Method

Abstract: In this paper author has purposed improved LSB substitution method for hiding text information written in text file into color image. In this method each character of secret message including special character such as space, enter, <,?, $etc. is converted in ASCII code then each value is converted in 8 bit binary number. Each bit of each character is embedded in last LSB of each pixel of cover image. Since only last bit each pixel of cover image get changed, this method is capable of producing a secret-embedded image that is totally indistinguishable from the original image by the human eye. This method is applied to cover image of bitmap and jpeg format to show that this technique is suitable for both format.

A secure steganography for privacy protection in healthcare system.

Abstract: Private data in healthcare system require confidentiality protection while transmitting. Steganography is the art of concealing data into a cover media for conveying messages confidentially. In this paper, we propose a steganographic method which can provide private data in medical system with very secure protection. In our method, a cover image is first mapped into a 1D pixels sequence by Hilbert filling curve and then divided into non-overlapping embedding units with three consecutive pixels. We use adaptive pixel pair match (APPM) method to embed digits in the pixel value differences (PVD) of the three pixels and the base of embedded digits is dependent on the differences among the three pixels. By solving an optimization problem, minimal distortion of the pixel ternaries caused by data embedding can be obtained. The experimental results show our method is more suitable to privacy protection of healthcare system than prior steganographic works.

Device for generating two-dimension code identifiers of books, two-dimension code identification device and system

Abstract: The invention belongs to the technical field of two-dimension codes, and discloses a device for generating two-dimension code identifiers of books based on an effect that an object corresponds to a code, a two-dimension code identification device and a two-dimension code identification system The feature information of each book is encrypted through an information encryption/signature module, and encrypted ciphertext information is generated into corresponding two-dimension code encoding information through a two-dimension code generating module, then a two-dimension code tag is printed by a printing device and adhered to a cover page of a book, and a two-dimension code tag can also be jetted on a cover page of a corresponding book in a variable information printing mode by using an inkjet printing device Meanwhile, a unique identifier of a book is printed on a cover page of the book in a plaintext mode, which facilitates the circulation and retail management of each book Through downloading a corresponding two-dimension code identifying and reading module from a specified service platform, the two-dimension code identification device can identify, read and decrypt plaintext information in a two-dimension code identifier, check whether the unique identifier of a book is consistent with the unique identifier of a plaintext book so as to detect the authenticity of the book, thereby facilitating the copyright protection and management of books

A novel active warden steganographic attack for next-generation steganography

Abstract: Digital steganography is often divided into two categories of research: steganographer and attacker, where a steganographer attempts to successfully hide the existence of hidden data and an attacker attempts to uncover and destroy said data. Often steganographic attacks utilize passive techniques, where the attacker monitors messages and alters or destroys the cover media only if the media is suspected to contain a message. Passive attacks are much more prevalent than active attacks for a variety of reasons. Generally passive attacks are more efficient and effective in determining the existence of hidden data in a given cover media, however, most passive attacks are not generic enough to detect the presence of a hidden message outside of a very small subset of steganographic algorithms. Conversely, current active attacks are very cost effective and often severely degrade or destroy the quality of the cover media. In this paper, we propose a novel active steganographic attack called the Discrete Spring Transform (DST). The concept of the DST attack is that of likening the cover media to a spring, in that it can be physically altered or manipulated in a manner of ways, while the basic structure and integrity of the spring is preserved despite these alterations. Since many steganographic schemes rely on the fact that the cover media remains somewhat stable the DST is effective in destroying the stego media for such types of steganographic algorithms. It follows that the DST is an effective and highly adaptable active attack that can be applied to a variety of cover media, including video. We will demonstrate that the attack is capable of defeating next-generation steganographic algorithms, including motion-vector steganography and RST-resilient algorithms by increasing the Bit Error Rate (BER) of the steganographic algorithm to approximately 0.5 while maintaining the quality of the cover media, where the Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) of the image-derived media always remains above 30db.