Enhancing Steganography with Blockchain: A Novel Approach for Secure Text Hiding in Encrypted Images

Steganography is a technique used to hide data within other data, emerging from the realization that information is valuable and must be concealed. By considering the potential of blockchain technology, which produces and stores data in an immutable chain, it is clear that steganography can be effectively applied alongside blockchain to hide information. This approach eliminates the need for traditional hiding methods. In this study, we aim to hide text messages within encrypted images using a new steganography-based blockchain, making them appear as ordinary encrypted images. The AES algorithm in CBC mode was used to encrypt both images and texts. Each image was split into 32-byte blocks, with a special block allocated for text, allowing for a text size of 32 characters. The robustness of the proposed technique against differential attacks was assessed using unified averaged changed intensity (UACI), number of pixels change rate (NPCR), entropy analysis, and correlation analysis. The outcomes show that the proposed encryption method generates random images and secure texts that are resistant of differential attacks as well as offer the high-level security.