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Enhanced Cloud Security using Cryptography and Steganography Techniques

Conference Paper · November 2021

DOI: 10.1109/CENTCON52345.2021.9687919

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 2021 International Conference on Disruptive Technologies for Multi-Disciplinary Research and Applications (CENTCON-2021)

Enhanced Cloud Security using Cryptography and

Steganography Techniques
2021 International Conference on Disruptive Technologies for Multi-Disciplinary Research and Applications (CENTCON) | 978-1-6654-0017-6/21/$31.00 ©2021 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/CENTCON52345.2021.9687919

Bindu Madavi K P P. Vijaya Karthick

Dept. Computer Science and Engineering Dept. Information Science and Engineering
Dayananda Sagar University Sir M. Visvesvaraya Institute of Technology
Bangalore,India Bangalore,India
[email protected] [email protected]

Abstract— Data security is a key concern for organizations technique for hiding data by encasing the hidden message in
considering a transfer of their on-premises applications to the another medium.
cloud. Organizations must shift their security controls from “Fig. 1”, depicts the general notion of cryptography. The
historical perimeter and detection-based technologies to a focus sender transmits an unencrypted message, which is known as
on establishing enhanced protection at the application and data ”plain text,” and it is transformed into an incomprehensible
levels to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of
form, known as ”ciphertext,” following encryption. The
these various systems and datasets. Data integrity is a critical
component of cloud data security, preventing unauthorized ciphertext is then transferred across an unsecured channel in
alteration or removal and guaranteeing that data stays as it was the presence of a third party known as an adversary or intruder,
when it was initially uploaded. This article presents a and the plain text is discovered at the receiving end after
compacting with steganography technique which is used to hide decrypting the ciphertext once again.
data with substantial security and also perfect invisibility while
utilizing a combination of DES, AES, and RC4 encryption
methods. The objective of this study is to provide data security
using steganography with the Least Significant Bit (LSB)
Algorithm and Hybrid Encryption that encrypts user input and
conceals it in an image file to provide the highest level of security
for messages sent and received.

Keywords—Cloud, Data Security, Hybrid Encryption,

Steganography

I. INTRODUCTION
Many industrial sectors are adopting cloud computing,
which raises security issues. However, there are solutions to Fig. 1. A comprehensive concept of cryptography [10].
protect privacy and prevent data loss. By implementing cloud
technology, most businesses have been able to lower the total Cryptography alone isn’t always enough to secure data.
cost of ownership, enhance the flexibility of IT deployment, sometimes it’s also necessary to hide the data. Steganography
become more competitive among new competitors, and is the method of concealing the existence of data or
achieve time-to-market goals. While cloud technology has information. The information is encapsulated in a cover item,
many advantages, it also has some drawbacks. Data residency making it impossible for anybody to detect its presence. The
and security are two major considerations when shifting to the embedding method requires a key, without which the
cloud. Who maintains and has access to the data is referred to adversary will be unable to identify the embedded message.
as data residency. What laws apply and where is the data
stored? Will data from a data breach remain in the cloud even
after the server has been shut down? To address data residency
problems, major options include data encryption and
tokenization. Data encryption is a mathematical technique that
converts plain text data into encrypted text that can only be
read by the person who has the encryption key. Because there
is a separation of responsibilities between where the keys are
maintained and where the encryption data is stored,
encryption protects against both internal and external threats. Fig. 2. A comprehensive concept of Steganography [10].
Encryption necessitates the use of stateless servers that do not
store data. Cryptography methods alter the content of the The general principle of steganography is seen in “Fig. 2”.
communication for unauthorized parties. Stenography is a Three ideas that compete with each other are necessary for

978-1-6654-0017-6/21/$31.00 ©2021 IEEE

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2021 International Conference on Disruptive Technologies for Multi-Disciplinary Research and Applications (CENTCON-2021)

steganography algorithms are capacity, security, and, the RSA algorithm to encrypt the text data and produce the
robustness [11]. keys and then image files to hide the encrypted data. From the
• Capacity: refers to the amount of data that the cover item can Image files, extract the encrypted data. finally Using the
conceal. decryption key, decrypt the text data. The results’
• Security: refers to the safeguarding of information such that performance will be assessed by comparing the image file
an intruder is unable to deduce its presence. quality before and after the data is hidden in these files.
• Robustness: relates to how many changes a stego item may
tolerate before the concealed information is destroyed. Ardiansyah, G., et al., [5] proposed a method of combining
Combining these techniques can increase secret information two Steganography domains with Cryptography to make
security and fulfill the security and resilience criteria for private information more secure and unavailable to
transferring sensitive data across an open channel. unauthorized individuals. The 3-DES technique is used to
encrypt messages. DWT is used to break down the cover
II. LITERATURE SURVEY picture into four sub-bands on the other side. The LSB
technique is used to insert encrypted messages in the LH, HL,
and HH subbands. The final step is to use Inverse DWT to
Bin Mohd Na et al., [1] presented a web application for
rebuild the stego picture. PSNR and MSE are used to assess the
protecting data by combining stenography with the Least
quality of the suggested technique.
Significant Bit (LSB) Algorithm and Hybrid Encryption with
RSA and AES. The RSA technique is employed as an
additional layer of protection, with the intended target’s N. H. Hassoon et al,. [6] suggested a new architecture for
private keys being the only way to open it. Create the concealing information that included cryptography and
encryption keys and encrypt the text contents with RSA. steganography. In this study, there were many methods used
Using the AES method, encrypt the public key and message. to conceal information. The first step is to encrypt a secret
LSB algorithm is applied to embed the private key and message using the Blowfish method to produce a key that will
encrypted message into the picture. The user will embed a be used to XOR a plaintext with the key during the encryption
message inside the image of their choice and publish it to procedure. The second step involves applying an edge
Google Drive, while the second party, or receiver, can detection algorithm to a cover picture to find hiding places.
download the image and extract the message back into plain Following that, the bat’s algorithm will be used on the edge
text. detection picture’s cover image to pick a random hiding place.
M. S. Abbas et al., [2] developed hybrid encryption The next step is to use the least significant bit to insert the
utilizing the AES and RSA encryption algorithms. Using the hidden message in a cover picture. The hybrid technique
LSB technique, the encrypted data will be concealed in a suggested by Negi, L. et al., [7] utilizes AES and Coverless
picture. The SHA hashing technique is used in the data image stenography. In the cryptography section, after
validation step. Before concealing the data in the image, encrypting 128-bit plaintext with a 128-bit key using the AES
compress it using the LZW technique. As a result, it is feasible technique, the encrypted message is changed to the bitstream,
to hide as much data as possible. The following processes are and the OMR sheet is bubbled by marking TRUE if the bit in
included in the proposed systems: encryption, compression, the bitstream is 1 and FALSE if the bit is 0. In this system, a
and embedding. The LSB technique is used to hide the results 128-question OMR sheet is utilized, which implies OMR
of the encryption in the image after encrypted compression contains 128 entries for storing 0/1 bits. As a result, the OMR
data. can store data up to 128 bits. The sender delivers the mapped
bubble sheet to the receiver, together with the secret key used
in the mapped sheet, and the recipient decodes the message.
A new secure communication model is presented by Dur-
Finally, this message is decrypted using the obtained key,
gadevi, S. et al., [3] that combines cryptography with
resulting in plaintext message encryption. The receiver reads
steganography techniques to create a pair of layers of security
what he or she has received.
so that the steganalyst cannot decipher the ciphertext without
knowing the secret key. The key images were first encrypted
using the Secure Force-AES algorithm, and then the encrypted Powerful hybrid image encryption and decryption method
images were concealed in the cowl image using JSTEG and are presented by Hazra, T. K., et al.,[8]. Arnold’s cat map is
LSB techniques. Using JSteg and LSB coding for combined with two more algorithms, the Criss-cross and
steganography, the encrypted secret data was hidden in a Random Shuffling methods, to create a permutation cipher
cover picture, guaranteeing extremely secure communication. that is generally far stronger. The Continuous Raster C pattern
and the LSB method will be combined in this work’s
steganography algorithm. The LSB technique will be utilized
Jassim, K. N., et al., [4] used hybrid RSA and LSB
based on the scan pattern.
algorithms to demonstrate that the integration of these
approaches is feasible and effective. The RSA algorithm is
used to encrypt the data. The data will be hidden in image files To protect data, Gupta, T. S. et al,. [9] present a
with the .bmp extension. The technique is divided into four cryptosystem that combines symmetric and asymmetric
steps, first to use cryptography. The method also includes a sub-process for
encrypting encryption keys before embedding them in a
picture. To encrypt data, the hybrid cryptosystem employs a
mix of Blowfish, RSA, and AES layers. LSB Stenography is
also utilized by the system to

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encrypt the keys used and embed them in an image. The • The first and last permutations are inverses and are
integration of Blowfish-RSA-AES has greatly enhanced straight Permutation boxes.
security while simultaneously addressing the shortcomings of • By applying a 48-bit key to the rightmost 32 bits, the
standalone solutions. DES function yields a 32-bit output.
• We must first extend the right input to 48 bits since
III. PROPOSED METHOD
the right input is 32 bits and the round key is 48 bits.
• After the expansion permutation, DES conducts an
XOR operation on the enlarged right portion and the
Information concealment is one of the most essential
round key.
components of information security. To achieve both
• Substitution Boxes are a type of substitution box that
steganography and cryptography, this research applies a few
is used to replace one item with another. The DES
different techniques. The design technique guarantees
algorithm employs eight S-boxes, each with 6-bit
comprehensive security of personal information in the public
input and 4-bit output.
cloud model. This is because it is open to everyone who wants
to utilize it. The suggested solution is compatible with hybrid,
private, and community cloud deployment types. The AES algorithm is built on a ’substitution–
permutation network. For 128-bit keys, AES uses 10 rounds,
twelve for 192-bit keys, and fourteen for 256-bit keys. Each
The proposed work includes the following processes as
of these rounds has its 128-bit round key, which is generated
shown in “Fig.3”. The input consists of a text file and an
from the initial AES key. There are four sub-processes in each
image file. Based on the number of characters in the file, the
cycle.
text file is split into three equal blocks. The padding was done
to divide the file into equal chunks. Different algorithms are
used to encrypt each block of text. The DES algorithm is used • SubBytes: The 16 input bytes are replaced by
for the first block of data. The AES method is used to encrypt looking up a pre-defined table (S-box) in the design.
the second block of the file, and the RC4 algorithm is used to A four-row, four-column matrix is the outcome.
encrypt the last block. RC4 is easy to use and may be quite • Shiftrows: The four rows of the matrix are shifted to
quick. AES is a very safe algorithm. In wireless routers, both the left.
ciphers are used. In encryption, DES employs a 56-bit key, • MixColumns: Each four-byte column is now
with a total of 256 potential keys. A brute force assault on modified using a distinct mathematical formula. This
such a large number of keys would be unfeasible. The Least function accepts four bytes from one column as input
Significant Bit (LSB) embedding technique is used to store and replaces them with four new bytes.
the secrete key in the image. Dropbox will store the encrypted • Addroundkey: The 16 bytes of the matrix are now
steno-text files. We can decrypt the file stored on Dropbox treated as 128 bits, and they are XORed with the
using the Hybrid decryption algorithm. round key’s 128 bits. The ciphertext is the output if
this is the final round.

The method of decrypting an AES ciphertext is the same as

the process of encrypting it. Each cycle is made up of four
operations that are carried out in the reverse sequence. Add
round key, Mix columns, Shift rows, Byte substitution.

RC4 creates a pseudorandom bitstream. These, like any other

stream cipher, may be used for encryption by employing bit-
wise exclusive-or to combine it with the plaintext. The same
procedure is used for decryption To establish a 256- byte state
table, the technique employs a variable-length key ranging
from 1 to 256 bytes. The state table is then used to generate
pseudo-random bytes and a pseudo-random stream, which is
subsequently XORed with the plaintext to produce the
ciphertext[12]. At least once, each element in the state table is
switched.
Fig. 3. Proposed Architecture
Each block’s ciphertext is produced using a separate
The text file encryption procedure is depicted in “Fig. 4”. The encryption method, as shown in equations 1, 2, and 3. As
file is split into blocks of equal size. Padding is used to ensure defined in equation 4, concatenation is used to obtain the final
encrypted text.
that each block has an equal number of charters. Each block
will be encrypted differently. The Data Encryption Standard
(DES), Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), and Rivest CT1 = EDES(PT1,K1) (1)
Cipher 4 (RC4) are used for the first, second, and third blocks
of data, respectively. DES employs a Feistel structure with 16 CT2 = EAES(PT2,K2) (2)
rounds. The following stages included DES

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2021 International Conference on Disruptive Technologies for Multi-Disciplinary Research and Applications (CENTCON-2021)

CT3 = ERC4(PT3,K3) (3)

CT =CT1 +CT2 +CT3 (4)

Fig. 6. Key Decryption.

Fig. 4. Text File

Encryption.

The key-encryption procedure is depicted in “Fig. 5”, using

the Least Significant Bit(LSB) Stenography method. Each Fig. 7. File Decryption.
encryption method generates keys to transform plain text to
cipher text during the encryption process. To obtain the final The first block of ciphertext is decrypted using the DES
key, the keys obtained by various encryption algorithms will Algorithm with the secret key k1, the second block of
be concatenated. The LSB stenography algorithm is used to ciphertext is decrypted using the AES Algorithm with the
hide this secret key in the image which generates the stego- secret key k2, and the final cipher block is decrypted using the
image. RC4 Algorithm with the secret key k3 in the file decryption
process as shown in equation 5,6, and 7. The ciphertext is
converted to plain text. The final plain text is obtained by
contacting three blocks of plain text, as seen in “Fig. 7” and
Equation 8.

PT1 = DDES(CT1,K1) (5)

PT2 = DAES(CT2,K2) (6)

Fig. 5. Keys Encryption using LSB. PT3 = DRC4(CT3,K3) (7)

Stego-Image has a secret key that is hidden inside the image. PT =PT1 +PT2 +PT3 (8)
To decode the secret key from the image, the LSB
steganography method is employed. “Fig. 6”, depicts the key
decryption procedure. IV. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The proposed method was designed in Java and evaluated

on a Windows PC equipped with an Intel i3 CPU and 4 GB of
RAM. The different sizes of the file with different sizes of the
image have been tested. The following plaintext was
encrypted to demonstrate data encryption.

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OUTPUT:

Plaintext to be encrypted: Encryption and Decryption

process using cryptographic algorithms and steganography
algorithms.

Block 1:Encryption and Decryption proces

Block 2:s using cryptographic algorithms
Block 3:and steganography algorithms.

Encryption:

DES :
Key : F44248B6D1CC41C2
Encrypted text : Fig. 8. Key Encryption & Decryption.
57a9b3f3d14fe95fbbb4191d579ff65b8365f995
49d2d6c2dbe09cb8e9b99247

AES :
Key : AKOtROyKmwsOOhY1UUrW5w==
Encrypted text :
FsnFg7Ef81SpUswlaSbvaI2LA8ql61KdH4ET
oedNLNHwBzdNIA4pRjwBlSZjkECM

RC4 :
Key : 6MC3MfZ9iFkhr+6y3bGong==
Encrypted text :
J4H4sPVt5beDV2p+N1a4F/E88GqweAeaR8B dORj7Q0o=

The Total encryption time is 2 milliseconds

Fig. 9. File Encryption &Decryption.
Decryption:
“Fig. 9”, illustrates the encryption and decryption times for
DES : text and picture files of various sizes. The proposed system’s
Key : F44248B6D1CC41C2 size is taken into account in KB’s.
Decrypted text: Encryption and Decryption process
V. CONCLUSION
AES :
Key : AKOtROyKmwsOOhY1UUrW5w== A combination of DES, AES, and RC4 algorithms has been
Decrypted text: s using cryptographic algorithms carefully suggested in this study as a method of securing and
hiding communications in a cover image to generate a high-
RC4: quality stego-image. To offer double security for data stored in
Key : 6MC3MfZ9iFkhr+6y3bGong== the cloud. The LSB technique is then used to hide the results
Decrypted text: and steganography algorithms. of the secret key in the image. For protecting data in a cloud
environment, this approach is more powerful and efficient. As
The Total decryption time is 3 milliseconds a result, this method combines secrecy, integrity, and
authentication. According to studies, cryptosystems with
longer decryption times take longer to crack, making them less
Plaintext Recovered after Decryption : vulnerable to attacks and more secure. As a result, we can
conclude that the suggested cryptosystem, which has a high
Encryption and Decryption process using cryptographic decryption time, is extremely safe and effective at encrypting
algorithms and steganography algorithms. data.

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