FPGA based Data Hiding through Steganography

Abstract

Nowadays, the information security has been the key factor in communications, computer systems, electronic commerce and data sharing. One of the well-known methods for procuring the security of shared information using carrier files is steganography. The carrier file can be discrete such as image, text, audio and video etc. Digital images are the most commonly used format among those due to the high capacity and availability frequency. The hidden data is stored in an indistinct carrier in image steganography, i.e the digital image is used as a cover image to mask the secret message known as stego image. Cryptography can be then adapted for increasing the security of the stego image. A zig-zag MSB-LSB slicing based steganographic algorithm is proposed in this paper for concealing a secret image in a cover image. Power report and device utilization summary of the algorithm is calculated and the output is demonstrated on the VGA screen using BASYS3 Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA).