PROPOSED IDEA FOR STEGANOGRAPHY ASSIGNMENT By Farhan Khan Student ID: g260214 Title of the Proposed Idea: “Message Concealment Techniques using Image based Steganography” Proposed Idea: There are two techniques for message concealment using image based steganography which I want to propose and implement in this assignment: Use of punctuation marks for message concealment in images: The idea behind this technique is to utilize the presence of punctuation marks like , ; : “ etc. in the text for encoding a secret message. The secret message to be communicated will be hidden in any piece of text through binary encoding of punctuation marks. Two punctuation marks can be used to represent binary data or several punctuation marks can be used to represent binary combinations. The encoded message can then be embedded in an image file (BMP, GIF or grayscale) using any of the popular methods like LSB insertion etc. [1] An additional layer of secrecy can be added by first encrypting the message and then encoding it through the use of punctuation marks before embedding in the cover image file. Example: Consider the following lines from William Shakespear’s renowned tragic play “Hamlet” uttered by the hero of the play Hamlet. To be, or not to be; that is the question, Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer; The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them? To die, to sleep, No more, and by a sleep to say we end; The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks, That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation, Devoutly to be wish'd; To die, to sleep; To sleep, perchance to dream; ay, there's the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause: there's the respect That makes calamity of so long life; For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, The pangs of despised love, the law's delay, The insolence of office and the spurns That patient merit of the unworthy takes, When he himself might his quietus make