Inner layer security reinforcement for instant payment systems: a dual layer encryption-steganography evaluation in...

The rapid adoption of real-time digital payment systems introduces cybersecurity risks that extend beyond technical vulnerabilities to include significant human and organizational factors.

This study evaluates a dual-layer data protection mechanism combining AES-128 encryption with spread spectrum audio steganography within Brunei's digital payment context. Stakeholder interviews with Cyber Security Brunei (CSB), National Digital Payments Network (NDPx), and a local bank were conducted alongside experimental testing using Stripe Sandbox.

Human factor issues accounted for 47% of identified cybersecurity concerns. Experimental results demonstrated that spread spectrum steganography achieved an 87.5% robustness rate across eight attack scenarios while maintaining near real-time performance with an average processing time of 568.82 ms and acceptable audio quality (PSNR 26.30 dB). Sandbox validation confirmed feasibility within realistic payment workflows.

The findings support data-centric security as a compensating control in human-dominated threat environments and demonstrate the viability of combining encryption and steganography to reinforce instant payment security.