Enhancing Data Security in Audio & Image Files with Hybrid Crypto-Steganography 🔒

Authors - Adeniyi Tunde Taiwo, Adeniyi Jide Kehinde, Adeniyi Idowu Olasunkanmi, Abidemi Adeniyi, Manduth Ramchander, Oluwasegun Julius Aroba Abstract - With the steady increase in cybercrime rate, it is estimated that cyber-crime will increase by 15% with its costs reaching 10.5 trillion by 2025According to IBM's 2023 research, 95% of firms have had at least one incident involving cyber security. There is therefore, a vital need to conceal sensitive data from at-tackers as the means of internet accessibility and technology rapidly increases. The LSB algorithm is a common technique for steganography but the F5 algorithm was reported to be an upgrade to the F5 algorithm. This study considers a comparative analysis of the LSB steganography and the F5 algorithm steganography which is a more recent algorithm. They system that consists of a 2-tier security system which involves a hybrid cryptography and steganography implementation. In cryptography, the sender converts plaintext into ciphertext and the embedded secret message is decrypted at the receiver side. Whereas in steganography, data is hidden behind images. The first phase of the examined system uses Advance Encryption Standard for encryption and the second phase uses Rivest Shamir Adleman for encryption and the third phase where steganography is used makes use of the Least Significant Bit algorithm and F5 algorithm. #aroseglinks #juliusaroba #stegnography #data #datasecurity #durbanuniversityoftechnology #universityofjohannesburg #hybrid #aroseglinkszillionaireconsulting #image #crypto #crypto-stegno #audio