DATA SECLUSION IN AUDIO FILES
ABSTRACT
Our project, Data Hiding in Audio files is the
software developed for hiding information which uses the technology called as Steganography –derived from the Greek
words meaning, “Covered writing”, is the art of hiding information in ways that
prevent its detection.
It is a method akin to covert
channels, and invisible links, which add another step in security. A message in
cipher text may arouse suspicion while an invisible message is not.
Digital stenography uses a host data
or message known as a “Container” or “Cover” to hide another data or message in
it. The conventional way of protecting information was to use a standard
symmetric or asymmetric key system in encryption. Steganography can also be
used to place a hidden “trademark” in images, music, and software, a technique
referred to as watermarking.
Steganography, if however used along
with cryptography ,for example, if a message is encrypted using triple DES(EDE)
which requires a 112 bit key then the message has become quite secure as far as
cryptanalytic attack are concerned. Now, if this cipher text is embedded in an
image, video, voice, etc., it is even more secure. If an encrypted message is
intercepted, the interceptor knows the
text is an encrypted message. With Steganography, the interceptor may know the
object contains a message.
When
performing data hiding on audio, one must exploit the weakness of the Human
Auditory System (HAS), while at the same time being aware of the extreme sensitivity
of the human auditory system.
As
we were growing up, we have occasionally heard the very popular phrase that the
world is becoming smaller with each passing day. Looking at it from a
geographical viewpoint, it seems to appear utterly nonsensical. However, that
is not what it means. It basically symbolizes that with improving technology,
it is becoming increasingly easier and faster to communicate. It is a
widespread belief that telecommunications holds the key to the future.
However
along with good, there is always the bad (hackers). The bad in this case being
the case of misuse of the technology to further ones own personal needs at the
expense of others. Communication holds the key to business, personal life, etc.
As people tend to rely on these new means of communication, more and more
important information is being conveyed along these new lines.
In
order to ensure the privacy of the communication between two parties, various
new methods are being developed. Cryptography being the mother to all those
projects. However, cryptography is like a tool, it can do as well as it is
programmed to do. Also, there are various different techniques that can be
implemented to attain a certain level of security.
Here
we implement a technique for data hiding in audio images, known as Audio
file Steganography. However, Steganography alone is not able to provide a
sufficiently high enough level of security. In order to improve the security of
our technique, we will also be incorporating encryption of data to be hidden.
Existing System
Nowadays,
several methods are used for communicating secret messages for defense purposes
or in order to ensure the privacy of communication between two parties. So we
go for hiding information in ways that prevent its detection.
Some
of methods used for privacy communication are the use of invisible Links;
covert channels are some of existing systems that are used to convey the
messages.
Proposed System
The proposed system uses Audio file as
a carrier medium which add another step in security. The objective of the newly proposed system is to create a system that
makes it very difficult for an opponent to detect the existence of a secret
message by encoding it in the carrier medium as a function of some secret key
and that remains as the advantage of this system.
Aim of the project
We
are of the belief that the easiest way to keep something from prying eyes is to
place it right in front of the person looking for it and make it look as
innocuous as possible.
Everyone has a taste for a certain
kind of music. Hence, it is more than likely that the person will have that
kind of music on the storage device of his computer. Also, it is quite common
case where people share and transfer different music files to one another. If
one were able to hide the message can be. Also, transfer of this message can be
done quite conveniently without raising any eyebrows.
Our aim is to come up with a technique
of hiding the message in the audio file in such a way, that there would be no
perceivable changes in the audio file after the message insertion.
At the same time, if the message that is to be
hidden were encrypted, the level of security would be raised to quite a
satisfactory level. Now, even if the hidden message were to be discovered the
person trying to get the message would only be able to lay his hands on the
encrypted message with no way of being able to decrypt it.
System Hardware and Software
Requirements
Hardware Requirements
Monitors : 800x600 minimum resolutions at 256 colors minimum
Memory : Approximately 64 MB of on board memory
I/O :
two or three button mouse and standard 101-key keyboard
MHZ :
At least 166 MHZ processor
Software Requirements
Java tool is used to perform Data
hiding in an Audio file and the Operating System used is Windows 9x, 2000, XP.
There are many algorithms available to achieve this. The need of algorithm is
to develop concepts and a practical embedding method for Audio files that would
provide high stenographic capacity without sacrificing security.
The algorithm used in our project is
PBE (MD5) algorithm. This
algorithm is chosen because it provides more security.
v Module I (Media Reading & Analyzing) :
ü Java language
v Module II (Message
encryption and embedding into audio)
ü Java language
v Module III (Extracting of
Message from Audio and encryption)
ü Java language
v Gel editor for Java.
