Data Hiding using Emoticons

Abstract

In 21st century Digital communication has become a very essential part of day to day life of every human. It has continuously evolved over the year. It has made communication easier. People can communicate anywhere and anytime large amount of data is transmitted every day, every second. Here data security comes into picture. Each and every individual want their data to be secure and doesn’t want it to be used in an unauthorized way. There are various techniques to provide data security such as cryptography and steganography. Cryptography is the science of encompassing the principles and methods of transforming a plain text message into one that is unintelligible and then, that message back to its original form. Steganography is the art and science of hiding information by embedding messages into other messages. Steganography means “Covered Writing” in Greek. Both the techniques have their own limitations; to overcome those limitations, here in this paper, we are combining both the techniques to enhance data security.