Abstract
With the increasing need of sensitive or secret data transmission through public network, security demands using cryptography and steganography are becoming a thirsty research area of last few years. These two techniques can be merged and provide better security which is nowadays extremely required. The proposed system provides a novel method of information security using the techniques of audio steganography combined with visual cryptography. In this system, we take a secret image and divide it into several subparts to make more than one incomprehensible sub-images using the method of visual cryptography. Each of the sub-images is then hidden within individual cover audio files using audio steganographic techniques. The cover audios are then sent to the required destinations where reverse steganography schemes are applied to them to get the incomprehensible component images back. At last, all the sub-images are superimposed to get the actual secret image. This method is very secure as it uses a two-step security mechanism to maintain secrecy. The possibility of interception is less in this technique because one must have each piece of correct sub-image to regenerate the actual secret image. Without superimposing every one of the sub-images meaningful secret images cannot be formed. Audio files are composed of densely packed bits. The high density of data in audio makes it hard for a listener to detect the manipulation due to the proposed time-domain audio steganographic method.