Title: Robust and secure file transmission through video streaming using steganography and blockchain

Authors: Xiangning Liang; Pushpendu Kar

Addresses: School of Computer Science, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, 199, Taikang East Road, Ningbo, 315100, China ' School of Computer Science, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, 199, Taikang East Road, Ningbo, 315100, China

Abstract: File transfer is always handled by a separate service, sometimes it is a third-party service in videoconferencing. When sending files during a video session, file data flow and video stream are independent of each other. Encryption is a mature method to ensure file security. However, it still has the chance to leave footprints on the intermediate forwarding machines. These footprints can indicate that a file once passed through, some protocol-related logs give clues to the hackers' later investigation. This work proposes a file-sending scheme through the video stream using blockchain and steganography. Blockchain is used as a file slicing and linkage mechanism. Steganography is applied to embed file pieces into video frames that are continuously generated during the session. The scheme merges files into the video stream with no file transfer protocol use and no extra bandwidth consumed by the file to provide trackless file transmission during the video communication.

Keywords: video streaming; blockchain; steganography; file transmission; network flow; file security.

DOI: 10.1504/IJICS.2024.141610

International Journal of Information and Computer Security, 2024 Vol.24 No.3/4, pp.258 - 283

Received: 22 Sep 2022
Accepted: 25 Jun 2023
Published online: 26 Sep 2024 *

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