BlendX: Dual-Layer Secure Communication Using Reversible Data Hiding and AES Encryption

Secure communication remains a critical challenge in digital systems. This paper presents a novel email system integrating Reversible Data Hiding (RDH) with AES encryption to enhance confidentiality and integrity. The proposed framework embeds secret messages into cover images using LSB-based RDH, preserving original pixels for full reversibility. AES in ECB mode encrypts the stego image, ensuring end-to-end security. Implemented in Django, the system provides user authentication, encrypted email composition, and real-time decryption. The dual-layer security approach achieves 256-bit encryption strength while maintaining a payload capacity of 1.5 bits per pixel. This solution addresses key limitations in existing steganographic email systems through provable reversibility and machine learning-based integrity checks. A comparative analysis shows 35% higher embedding efficiency than conventional LSB methods while maintaining visual transparency. The integration with Django's ORM enables scalable user management and audit logging. This work advances secure communication systems by combining cryptographic primitives with reversible steganography in a practical web application framework.