Securing Data Transfer in IoT Employing an Integrated Approach of Cryptography & Steganography

Propelled by the ongoing advancements in mobile communication and wireless technologies, the internet has transformed into Internet of Things (IoT) which refers to a global, dynamic network infrastructure of smart devices coupled with a common pool of self-configuring capabilities that employ seamless integration of intelligent interfaces into information network. Yet it brings forth a new dimension of complexity in terms of many potential challenges specifically in areas of data security comprising data confidentiality and integrity aspects during data transfer phases in IoT. In order to promote secure data transfer in smart IoT environment, a security scheme is advocated in this paper which addresses both the aforesaid issues, employing a combined approach of lightweight Cryptography and Variable LSB Substitution Steganography technique. Further a comparative study is conducted between Simple LSB & Variable LSB Substitution algorithm where it can be concluded that the Variable LSB Substitution scheme offers better security than its Simple LSB Substitution counterpart.