steganography_usingimage

Steganography using LSB and AES Encryption

This project implements image steganography using Least Significant Bit (LSB) encoding combined with AES encryption (via the cryptography library). It allows users to hide a secret message inside an image securely.

Features

• Encrypts the secret message using AES (Fernet encryption)
• Encodes the encrypted message into an image using LSB
• Decodes and decrypts the message from the stego image

Dependencies

Ensure you have the required Python packages installed: sh pip install opencv-python numpy cryptography

Usage

1. Encoding a Message

python from steganography import encode_image

message = "Hello, this is a secret message!" encode_image("input_image.png", message)

This will generate a new image stego_image.png with the hidden message.

2. Decoding the Message

python from steganography import decode_image

decode_image("stego_image.png")

This will extract and print the hidden message.

File Structure

│── steganography.py
│── README.md
│── input_image.png
│── stego_image.png

How It Works

1. The message is encrypted using AES encryption (Fernet).
2. The encrypted message is converted into binary.
3. The binary message is embedded into the Least Significant Bit (LSB) of the image pixels.
4. To decode, the process is reversed: binary extraction → decryption → retrieving the original message.

Notes

• Ensure input_image.png exists before running the script.
• The same encryption key is needed for decoding (store it safely if required).

License

This project is open-source under the MIT License.