International Journal of Big Data Security Intelligence Vol.2, No.2 (2015), pp.1-22 http://dx.doi.org/10.21742/ijbdsi.2015.2.2.01 Print ISSN: 2205-8524, eISSN: 2207-5178 IJBDSI Copyright ⓒ 2015 GV School Publication Origin of Hybrid Security Mechanisms and Ways of Improvement Divya Chaudhary 1 , Dr.Shailender Gupta 2 , Sweety Deswal 3 1 YMCA University of Science and Technology, Faridabad, India divchaudhary@gmail.com 1 , shailender81@gmail.com 2 , sweetydeswal92@gmail.com 3 Abstract Security of data has been of prime concern in communication networks. Most popular techniques for providing security are Cryptography and Steganography. Cryptography converts the data into another form understood only by the sender and the intended recipient. On the other hand steganography hides the very existence of data by concealing it in a cover image. Instead of using stand-alone technique, combining both provides far better security. The use of such mechanisms not only increases the brute force search time for hackers but at the same time provides a good robust mechanism. This paper studies various techniques available in literature and suggests ways to improve them. The mechanisms are implemented in MATLAB-09 and compared in terms of robustness, security and efficiency. It can easily seen from the simulation and results that Least Significant Bit steganography using status bit combined with AES provides far better results in comparison to any technique available in literature. In addition to this, the paper also shows how this technique and others can be improved further. Keywords: Information Security, Cryptography, Steganography, PSNR, Time Complexity 1. Introduction With the advent of digital technology, focus is shifting on providing more and more secure communication for secret data. Two well-known and widely used techniques for providing security to data are cryptography and steganography. Cryptography Error! Reference source not found.Error! Reference source not found.Error! Reference source not found.Error! Reference source not found. converts the secret message into another form that is not understood by anyone except the sender or receiver. The message to be sent (plain text) is converted into an unreadable form (cipher text, and the process is called encryption) so that if any intruder has access to the data he still can’t understand it. Cipher text is obtained from plain text by applying various encryption algorithms. The intended recipient of the message then converts cipher text to plain text using Decryption algorithm. Cryptography is of two main types: 1. Symmetric key Cryptography: Sender and the intended recipient use the same agreed upon shared key for encryption and decryption. Sender and receiver are required to share the key privately. 2. Asymmetric key Cryptography: Sender and the intended recipient use different keys for encryption and decryption. This algorithm requires sender and receiver both to have two keys, a public key and private key. Sender encrypts the data with the public key of Article history: Received (August 15, 2015), Review Result (October 23, 2015), Accepted (November 22, 2015)