Feasibility of an Encryption and Decryption System for Messages and Images Using a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) as the Portable Encryption Key Platform

摘要

In this paper, we discuss a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) implementation of steganography for security applications such as anti-theft systems and forensic investigation systems. Our proposed method takes advantage of both conventional encryption/decryption algorithms and fragile image watermarking techniques to provide user-friendly interface. It could potentially be of benefit to financial investment companies, the military and security forces in order to keep certain information hidden within other content with a change so subtle that no one who does not know exactly where or how to look will not be able to obtain the data. In our proposed system, a steganographic message known as plaintext is first encrypted by conventional methods to give an extra layer of security, producing a ciphertext. The steganographic message can be either an image or ASCII text, both of which will be discussed. Then, the cover text or image is modified to contain the ciphertext, yielding a encrypted text or a watermarked image. Details of the circuitry for each stage are given with some of the encryption and randomization circuitry not included in full detail for commercial reasons. Test images before and after watermarking will be shown to demonstrate the validity and effectiveness of the proposed system.