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A double steganography model combining blockchain and interplanetary file system

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Abstract

The secret information may be compromised for the lack of security and concealment in conventional covert communication. Blockchain is a suitable platform for establishing covert channels to protect the secret information, due to its features of anti-tamper, anti-forgery, anonymity, and information synchronization. However, the cost of storing large files in the blockchain is too high. To solve the above problems, we propose a double steganography model which combines blockchain and interplanetary file system (IPFS) in this paper. The model consists of two parts: image steganography and plain text steganography. In image steganography, the model embeds secret information into the original image using the least significant bit (LSB) algorithm based on RSA encryption. Then the image is stored in IPFS that returns the hash value. In plain text steganography, the model embeds the hash value into plain text files by the whitespace method based on partial order. Then those files are transmitted through blockchain network covert channels. Any node can obtain the files as the receiver. But only the trusted party can extract the secret information through the inverse process of embedding. Experimental results show that the proposed model has high performance of anti-detection and guarantees the concealment of communication.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by National Key Research and Development Project No. 2018YFB1201403, Program for Science & Technology Innovation Talents in Universities of Henan Province No. 21HASTIT031, Training Plan for Young Backbone Teachers of Colleges and Universities in Henan No. 2019GGJS018, Key Scientific Research Project of Colleges and Universities in Henan Province No. 20A520035, Major Public Welfare Project of Henan Province No. 201300210300 and Scientific and Technological Research Projects in Henan Province No. 212102310039.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Software, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450000, China

    Wei She, Lijuan Huo, Zhao Tian, Yan Zhuang, Chaoyi Niu & Wei Liu

  2. Henan Collaborative Innovation Center for Internet Medical and Health Services, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450000, China

    Wei She & Wei Liu

  3. Hanwei Internet of Things Research Institute, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450000, China

    Wei She, Lijuan Huo, Zhao Tian, Yan Zhuang, Chaoyi Niu & Wei Liu

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  1. Wei She
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  2. Lijuan Huo
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  3. Zhao Tian
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  4. Yan Zhuang
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  5. Chaoyi Niu
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  6. Wei Liu
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Correspondence to Wei Liu.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection: Special Issue on Blockchain for Peer-to-Peer Computing

Guest Editors: Keping Yu, Chunming Rong, Yang Cao, and Wenjuan Li

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She, W., Huo, L., Tian, Z. et al. A double steganography model combining blockchain and interplanetary file system. Peer-to-Peer Netw. Appl. 14, 3029–3042 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12083-021-01143-0

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