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Covert communication by embedding a message or data file in a cover

medium has been increasingly gaining importance in the all-encompassing field of

information technology. Audio steganography is concerned with embedding

information in an innocuous cover speech in a secure and robust manner.

Communication and transmission security and robustness are essential for

transmitting vital information to intended sources while denying access to

unauthorized persons. By hiding the information using a cover or host audio as a

wrapper, the existence of the information is concealed during transmission.

In our project we present a novel high bit rate LSB audio watermarking

method that reduces embedding distortion of the host audio. Using the proposed

two-step algorithm, watermark bits are embedded into higher LSB layers, resulting

in increased robustness against noise addition. In addition, listening tests showed

that perceptual quality of watermarked audio is higher in the case of the proposed

method than in the standard LSB method.






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 Vhe  is the worldwide, publicly accessible network of
interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the
standard Internet Protocol (IP). It is a "network of networks" that consists of
millions of smaller domestic, academic, business, and government networks, which
together carry various information and services. A significant issue facing the
internet is the secure transmission of confidential and proprietary information.
Secure transmission can be done by one of two ways.
!| Cryptography
!| Steganography


Cryptography is the study of message secrecy. In modern times, it has
become a branch of information theory, as the mathematical study of information
and especially its transmission from place to place.

!"
# $! is a technique which allows an individual to add
hidden copyright notices or other verification messages to digital audio, video, or
image signals and documents. Such a message is a group of bits describing
information pertaining to the signal or to the author of the signal (name, place,
etc.). Vhe technique takes its name from watermarking of paper or money as a
security measure. Digital watermarking can be a form of steganography, in which
data is hidden in the message without the end user's knowledge.

A simple example of a digital watermark would be a visible "seal" placed over an

image to identify the copyright. However the watermark might contain additional
information including the identity of the purchaser of a particular copy of the
material. According to the human perception, the digital watermarks can be
divided into two different types as follows: visible and invisible. Visible
watermark is a secondary translucent overlaid into the primary image as shown in
the figure.

Vhus, a watermarking can be classified into two sub-types: visible and invisible.
Visible watermarks change the signal altogether such that the watermarked signal
is totally different from the actual signal, e.g., adding an image as a watermark to
another image.

Vhe communication of a digital watermark may be viewed as an exercise in digital

communication. Vhe message bits are encoded and embedded in a suitable carrier.
Vhe properties that are desired of the watermark, such as imperceptibility,
robustness to noise and to image editing such as cropping and rotation are the
factors that drive the choice of carrier. In robust watermarks, it is the combination
of low signal amplitude (because the watermark is invisible) and large bandwidth
(because images are typically quite large), as well as the relatively short length of
the message, that dictates the use of spread spectrum for encoding the message
bits. Spread spectrum is a robust and secure form of communication. In image
watermarking, the spread spectrum signal is typically placed in the frequency
domain to produce a watermark that is immune to image processing. We will see
in detail about the relationship between watermarking and steganography in the
following section.

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We developed a novel method that is able to shift the limit for transparent data
hiding in audio from the fourth LSB layer to the sixth LSB layer, using a two- step
approach. In the ¯rst step, a watermark bit is embedded into the ith LSB layer of
the host audio using a novel LSB coding method. In the second step, the impulse
noise caused by watermark embedding is shaped in order to change its white noise
properties.
Vhe standard LSB coding method simply replaces the original host audio bit in the
ith layer (i=1,...,16) with the bit from the watermark bit stream. In the case when
the original and watermark bit are di®erent and ith LSB layer is used for
embedding the error caused by watermarking is 2i 1 quantization steps
(QS)(amplitude range is [-32768, 32767]). Vhe embedding error is positive if the
original bit was 0 and watermark bit is 1 and vice versa.
Vhe key idea of the proposed LSB algorithm is watermark bit embedding that
causes minimal embedding distortion of the host audio. It is clear that, if only one
of 16 bits in a sample is ¯xed and equal to the watermark bit, the other bits can be
°ipped in order to minimize the embedding error. For example, if the original
sample value was 0...010002=810, and the watermark bit is zero is to be embedded
into 4th LSB layer, instead of value 0...000002=010, that would the standard
algorithm produce, the proposed algorithm produces sample that has value
0...001112=710, which is far more closer to the original one. However, the
extraction algorithm remains the same, it simply retrieves the watermark bit by
reading the bit value from the prede¯ned LSB layer in the watermarked audio
sample.

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 In this module, the actual encoding takes place. Vhe window is provided
with options to select the audio file which is the cover file and the text file which is
the stego object. Options are provided to play the music to verify the audio track.
Vo ensure protection of the file, an option to verify password is also provided. Vhe
password is encrypted using the same algorithm and hence secure.

Vhe audio is read in bit by bit form, each eighth bit of the image is used for
embedding the content. Now, the first bit of the content is embedded into the eight
bit of the image and the second bit of the content is embedded in to the sixteenth
bit of the image and so on. Vhis is repeated for every character. Vhus, the
watermark is embedded into the document. Vhe digest of the image document is
created using a standard hash code function in Java language. Vhe decoding and
decryption is done as reverse process.

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Decoding is the reverse process of encoding. In the decoding phase the
embedded bits are just retrived. Vhe LSB of the audio file are retrives and written
in a text file from where it can be read.
A password is provided to ensure secure transmission on the file. In this
module, we request a password from the user and we encode the password with the
same algorithm. Hence it cannot be intercepted without the algorithm.
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Processor Speed Minimum : Intel PIV 2GHz
RAM : 256 MB
 Hard Disk : 40 GB
Monitor : 15¶¶ SVGA COLOR
Keyboard : Standard
Mouse : Standard

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Operating System : Windows
Language : Java