Implementasi Penyembunyian Data pada Metadata PNG Menggunakan Enkripsi Fernet (AES) Berbasis Password dengan Python

The rapid exchange of digital information necessitates robust security measures to protect sensitive data from unauthorized access. This research proposes a hybrid security model combining cryptography and steganography to hide information within PNG image metadata. The system utilizes Fernet symmetric encryption, which is built on top of AES-128, to secure the message before embedding it into the metadata fields. A password-based key derivation ensures that only authorized users can decrypt the content. By leveraging Python for implementation, the study demonstrates that metadata-based steganography provides a secure alternative to traditional pixel-based methods, as it does not alter the visual quality of the image. The results indicate that the encrypted metadata is resilient to basic image viewing while maintaining data integrity.