Enhancing Security of Image Steganography Using Visual Cryptography

Steganography is the art of hiding secret data in a medium whereas visual-cryptography is a cryptographic technique where a full image is encrypted. The security of image steganography depends on the secret key set which is used for embedding the secret image. If the secret key is exposed, the secret image can be retrieved. To solve this security issue we propose a new type of steganography method using visual cryptography. In this method, text and image are used as a secret message and image for the cover object. 24-bit RGB color images are used as both secret and cover images. In this method, we use a new image namely share1 which converts a secret image to a totally different image called share2 image. Typically, knowing the extraction method, people can retrieve the secret message easily. A pseudorandomly generated image is used as a key for visual encryption and this ensures the extra layer of security. By this proposed method, we ensure more secured image steganography.