STEGO / BUILD 2026
PROJECT INTRODUCTION
01 / 08
STEGO
Hide a message inside an image.
Recover it with the right token.
PROJECT PURPOSE
A desktop tool for encrypting and embedding messages in images, then decoding and verifying recovery.
TEAM NAME
QuadVecta
TEAM MEMBER
Suhan Aktar Mazumder
STEGO / BUILD 2026
PROBLEM & USERS
02 / 08
Private content is only part of the problem
Encryption protects what a message says; steganography attempts to hide that a message is there.
THE PROBLEM
Plain-text secrets expose their contents. Visible ciphertext can still signal that a private exchange is happening.
TARGET USERS
Security researchers, security learners, and educators demonstrating image steganography.
CURRENT GAP
A user must manage encryption, image embedding, recovery credentials, and output verification—often across separate steps.
WHY IT MATTERS
STEGO brings the workflow into one local desktop interface: encode, save, decode, and verify.
STEGO / BUILD 2026
WHAT I BUILT
03 / 08
A local workflow from message to verified recovery
The current project foundation combines encryption, keyed pixel scattering, and lossless image handling.
01 INPUT
Cover image
Message / file
Secret token
02 PROCESS
Encrypt payload
Derive separate keys
Scatter 2 blue-channel LSBs
03 OUTPUT
Stego image
Token kept separately
Decode and compare
→
→
TECHNOLOGY & ROLE
Python + Tkinter — desktop interface
OpenCV + NumPy — image and pixel processing
cryptography — Fernet, HKDF, HMAC
PNG / BMP — recommended lossless carriers
STEGO / BUILD 2026
WORKING DEMO & RESULTS
04 / 06
Project screenshots
21 / 21 ENGINE TESTS
4 / 4 GUI SMOKE TESTS
Encode Screen
Decode Screen
STEGO / BUILD 2026
INGENUITY & DECISIONS
05 / 08
Design choices made for recoverability and security
LAYERED PROTECTION
Payload is encrypted before embedding. A separate token is required to derive the recovery keys.
KEYED SCATTER
Embedding positions are deterministically scattered from derived key material, rather than written sequentially.
SAVE & VERIFY
The saved image should be decoded and checked. A successful in-memory encode alone is not enough.
THE IMPORTANT TRADE-OFF
Using 2 least-significant bits in the blue channel adds capacity, but lossy re-encoding can change those bits.
FUTURE IMPLEMENTAION - HIGH STEALTH
Randomized embedding is not proof of undetectability. Full steganalysis benchmarking remains future work.
STEGO / BUILD 2026
POTENTIAL & NEXT STEPS
06 / 08
From working prototype to dependable tool
POTENTIAL USERS
Security educators, students, privacy-conscious users, and steganography researchers.
VALUE DELIVERED
A single desktop workflow for hiding, recovering, and checking an encrypted payload in an image.
NEXT ITERATION
Improve guided UX and analysis clarity; test edge cases and platform-specific file dialogs.
STEGO / BUILD 2026
REFERENCES & TOOLS
07 / 08
References & tools used
[1] N. Provos and P. Honeyman, "Hide and Seek: An Introduction
to Steganography," IEEE Security & Privacy, vol. 1, no. 3, pp.
32–44, 2003.
[2] J. Fridrich, Steganography in Digital Media: Principles,
Algorithms, and Applications. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
University Press, 2009.
[3] N. F. Johnson and S. Jajodia, "Exploring Steganography:
Seeing the Unseen," Computer, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 26–34, 1998.
[4] National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST),
Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), FIPS PUB 197, Nov. 2001.
[5] B. Kaliski, "PKCS #5: Password-Based Cryptography
Specification Version 2.0," RFC 2898, Internet Engineering Task
Force (IETF), Sept. 2000.
[6] C. Kaufman, R. Perlman, and M. Speciner, Network Security:
Private Communication in a Public World, 2nd ed. Upper Saddle
River, NJ, USA: Prentice Hall, 2002.
STEGO / BUILD 2026
REFERENCES & TOOLS
08 / 08
References & tools used
Software documentation
- Python 3 Documentation. https://docs.python.org/3/
- Tkinter. https://docs.python.org/3/library/tkinter.html
- OpenCV. https://docs.opencv.org/4.x/d6/d00/tutorial_py_root.html
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), FIPS 197, updated 2023. https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.FIPS.197-upd1
BUILD 2026
Thank you.
STEGO / HACKYARD BUILD 2026