IV_Encrypt

A Professional Steganography and Metadata Cryptography Tool

Securely encrypt and conceal private messages within image pixels while managing raw Exif metadata natively.

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📸 Interface

Featuring a high-visibility, cyberpunk-inspired GTK3 dark theme.

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⚡ Core Features

• Advanced LSB Steganography: Encrypt text using robust libsodium algorithms and seamlessly weave the ciphertext into the Least Significant Bits (LSB) of PNG image pixels.
• Auto-Payload Detection: Instantly scans and identifies encrypted STEG magic bytes upon loading an image, displaying a highly visible 🔒 payload indicator.
• Silent & Powerful Metadata Engine: Reads and writes complex image metadata transparently via exiftool. Features non-blocking worker threads and a seamless inline warning system to handle missing dependencies gracefully.
• Cyberpunk GTK Interface: Completely modernized responsive UX using GtkPaned split-views, high-contrast neon ghost buttons, and a monospaced "hacker" style JSON metadata editor.
• Native Desktop Integration: Zero configuration required! Automatically generates a .desktop entry and securely injects its embedded cyber-favicon into your GNOME/Linux Dock and Topbar upon launch.
• Secure Convenience: Safely toggle password visibility (👁️), Drag-and-Drop images directly into the app, and "Save As" / "Export Message" via native GTK file choosers.

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🛠️ Requirements & Installation

You will need the following development headers and runtime dependencies to compile and successfully modify metadata:

Ubuntu / Debian

sudo apt update
sudo apt install build-essential pkg-config libgtk-3-dev libgdk-pixbuf2.0-dev libsodium-dev libexif-dev libimage-exiftool-perl

Fedora

sudo dnf install gcc pkgconf-pkg-config gtk3-devel gdk-pixbuf2-devel libsodium-devel perl-Image-ExifTool

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🚀 Build & Run

Compiling from source is a one-liner utilizing pkg-config:

gcc iv_encrypt.c -o iv_encrypt `pkg-config --cflags --libs gtk+-3.0 gdk-pixbuf-2.0 libexif` -lsodium -lm

Execute the binary directly from the terminal to instantly launch the tool and simultaneously auto-install the Linux Desktop Entry:

chmod +x iv_encrypt
./iv_encrypt

⚡ Quickstart

If you don't want to compile from source, you can run the pre-compiled Linux binary directly:

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/the-shadow-0/IV_Encrypt.git
cd IV_Encrypt
sudo apt install libimage-exiftool-perl
chmod +x iv_encrypt
./iv_encrypt

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🔐 How It Works

1. Encryption Phase: libsodium securely encrypts your textual data, creating a salt/nonce keypair bound to your password.
2. Concealment: The ciphertext is systematically spread across the Alpha/RGB channels of the image format.
3. Data Preservation: The mutated image is exclusively saved as a .png file to guarantee zero-loss LSB data retention.
4. Metadata Management: The internal exiftool bridge allows complete JSON-based tracking or destruction of the original photographic tracing elements (EXIF/XMP).

Caution

Data Loss Warning: IV_Encrypt uses advanced libsodium cryptographic hashing. If you lose your password, the ciphertext embedded within your image becomes permanently unrecoverable (even to the developer). Always maintain an offline, unmodified backup of your original raw images before encrypting them.

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📜 License

MIT License — see LICENSE for details.

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⚡ Built with love for the Linux and security community.