New LSB-based colour image steganography method to enhance the efficiency in payload capacity,security and integrity check

Steganography is the technique for hiding information within a carrier file so that it is imperceptible for unauthorized parties. In this study, it is intended to combine many techniques to gather a new method for colour image steganography to obtain enhanced efficiency, attain increased payload capacity, posses integrity check and security with cryptography at the same time. Proposed work supports many different formats as payload. In the proposed method, the codeword is firstly formed with secret data and its CRC-32 checksum, then the codeword is compressed by Gzip just before encrypting it by AES, and it is finally added to encrypted header information for further process and then embedded into the cover image. Embedding the encrypted data and header information process utilizes Fisher-Yates Shuffle algorithm for selecting next pixel location. To hide one byte, different LSB (least significant bits) of all colour channels of the selected pixel is exploited. In order to evaluate the proposed method, comparative performance tests are carried out against different spatial image steganographic techniques using some of the well-known image quality metrics. For security analysis, histogram, enhanced LSB and Chi-square analyses are carried out. The results indicate that with the proposed method has an improved payload capacity, security and integrity check for common problems of simple LSB method. Moreover, it has been shown that the proposed method increases the visual quality of the stego image when compared to other studied methods, and makes the secret message difficult to be discovered.     

Analysis and Improvement of Steganography Protocol Based on Bell States in Noise Environment

In the field of quantum communication, quantum steganography is an important branch of quantum information hiding. In a realistic quantum communication system, quantum noises are unavoidable and will seriously impact the safety and reliability of the quantum steganographic system. Therefore, it is very important to analyze the influence of noise on the quantum steganography protocol and how to reduce the effect of noise. This paper takes the quantum steganography protocol proposed in 2010 as an example to analyze the effects of noises on information qubits and secret message qubits in the four primary quantum noise environments. The results show that when the noise factor of one quantum channel noise is known, the size of the noise factor of the other quantum channel can be adjusted accordingly, such as artificially applying noise, so that the influence of noises on the protocol is minimized. In addition, this paper also proposes a method of improving the efficiency of the steganographic protocol in a noisy environment.     

Real-time and MPEG-1 layer III compression resistant steganography in speech

Embedding a secret message into a cover media without attracting any attention, known as steganography, is one of the methods used for hidden communication purposes. One of the cover media that can be used for steganography is speech. In this study, the authors propose a new steganography method in speech signals. In this method, the silence intervals of speech are found and the length (number of samples) of these intervals is changed to hide information. The main feature of our method is robustness to MPEG-1 layer III (MP3) compression. This method can hide information in a speech stream with very low processing time which makes it a real-time steganography method. The hiding capacity of our method is comparable with other MP3 resistance methods and the listening tests show that the degradation in speech quality is not annoying. Additionally, the effect of our method on chaotic features is negligible, so it is difficult to detect our method with chaotic-based steganalysis methods.     

An authenticated secure image hiding scheme

Abstract

Image hiding involves the concealment of an embedded secret image within a cover image to form a stego-image. The secret image can be used for transmission across the public networks without its presence being detected. Image hiding thus serves as a way of secure message communication; therefore, except for the platitudinous issues of image quality and hiding capacity, it is necessary to pay more attention to the means to assure the origin and integrity of the delivered content. In this paper, a digital signature scheme is skillfully applied so as to guarantee the integrity and the origin of the transmitted message and a behind-the-scenes guide to recover the hidden secret. Our idea launches realistic feints and ambushes to enhance the effect of camouflage.     

A Novel Steganography Algorithm Based on Instance Segmentation

Information hiding tends to hide secret information in image area where is rich texture or high frequency, so as to transmit secret information to the recipient without affecting the visual quality of the image and arousing suspicion. We take advantage of the complexity of the object texture and consider that under certain circumstances, the object texture is more complex than the background of the image, so the foreground object is more suitable for steganography than the background. On the basis of instance segmentation, such as Mask R-CNN, the proposed method hides secret information into each object's region by using the masks of instance segmentation, thus realizing the information hiding of the foreground object without background. This method not only makes it more efficient for the receiver to extract information, but also proves to be more secure and robust by experiments.     

A New Generative Mathematical Model for Coverless Steganography System Based on Image Generation

The ability of any steganography system to correctly retrieve the secret message is the primary criterion for measuring its efficiency. Recently, researchers have tried to generate a new natural image driven from only the secret message bits rather than using a cover to embed the secret message within it; this is called the stego image. This paper proposes a new secured coverless steganography system using a generative mathematical model based on semi Quick Response (QR) code and maze game image generation. This system consists of two components. The first component contains two processes, encryption process, and hiding process. The encryption process encrypts secret message bits in the form of a semi-QR code image whereas the hiding process conceals the pregenerated semi-QR code in the generated maze game image. On the other hand, the second component contains two processes, extraction and decryption, which are responsible for extracting the semi-QR code from the maze game image and then retrieving the original secret message from the extracted semi-QR code image, respectively. The results were obtained using the bit error rate (BER) metric. These results confirmed that the system achieved high hiding capacity, good performance, and a high level of robustness against attackers compared with other coverless steganography methods.     

Coverless Image Steganography Based on Jigsaw Puzzle Image Generation

Current image steganography methods are working by assigning an image as a cover file then embed the payload within it by modifying its pixels, creating the stego image. However, the left traces that are caused by these modifications will make steganalysis algorithms easily detect the hidden payload. A coverless data hiding concept is proposed to solve this issue. Coverless does not mean that cover is not required, or the payload can be transmitted without a cover. Instead, the payload is embedded by cover generation or a secret message mapping between the cover file and the payload. In this paper, a new coverless image steganography method has been proposed based on the jigsaw puzzle image generation driven by a secret message. Firstly, the image is divided into equal rows then further divided into equal columns, creating blocks (i.e., sub-images). Then, according to secret message bits and a proposed mapping function, each block will have tabs/blanks to get the shape of a puzzle piece creating a fully shaped jigsaw puzzle stego-image. After that, the generated jigsaw puzzle image is sent to the receiver. Experimental results and analysis show a good performance in the hiding capacity, security, and robustness compared with existing coverless image steganography methods.     

A robust information hiding scheme for tampered cover images

In this paper, we propose a robust information hiding scheme such that the secret information is restorable upon cover image tampering. The secret information is first translated into a binary image, and then the binary image is encoded into an ‘index table’ via Vector Quantisation (VQ). Without noticeable damage to image quality, the secret information codes (VQ index table of secret information) are hidden repeatedly into the cover image. Using our proposed scheme, the extracted secret codes can be almost completely restored to their original state even when the cover image has been tampered with. Experimental results show that our proposed scheme restores the secret information perfectly under many types of tampering attacks.     

Varying index varying bits substitution algorithm for the implementation of VLSB steganography

Variable least significant bits (VLSB) steganography is a pretty powerful and secure technique for data hiding in cover images, having variable data hiding capacity, signal-to-noise ratio, peak signal-to-noise ratio, and mean square error (MSE). This study presents a new algorithm for the implementation of VLSB steganography named varying index varying bits substitution (VIVBS). The VIVBS algorithm is a very secure, high capacity, flexible, and statistically unpredictable mechanism to conceal information in cover images. The method uses a secret stego-key comprising a reference point, and variation of the number of bits to be hidden with varying indices of pixels in the cover image. The secret key adds an extra feature of security to steganography, making it much immune to steganalysis. The VIVBS algorithm is capable of providing variable data hiding capacity and variable key size which can be changed by changing the range of least significant bits used. A data hiding capacity of 43.75% with a negligible MSE 14.67 dB has been achieved using the VIVBS algorithm. For larger data hiding capacity, the MSE and distortion increases significantly which make the existence of information predictable but the key size also increases significantly, making the retrieval of hidden information difficult for the unauthorized person.     

Steganography Using Reversible Texture Synthesis Based on Seeded Region Growing and LSB

Steganography technology has been widely used in data transmission with secret information. However, the existing steganography has the disadvantages of low hidden information capacity, poor visual effect of cover images, and is hard to guarantee security. To solve these problems, steganography using reversible texture synthesis based on seeded region growing and LSB is proposed. Secret information is embedded in the process of synthesizing texture image from the existing natural texture. Firstly, we refine the visual effect. Abnormality of synthetic texture cannot be fully prevented if no approach of controlling visual effect is applied in the process of generating synthetic texture. We use seeded region growing algorithm to ensure texture’s similar local appearance. Secondly, the size and capacity of image can be decreased by introducing the information segmentation, because the capacity of the secret information is proportional to the size of the synthetic texture. Thirdly, enhanced security is also a contribution in this research, because our method does not need to transmit parameters for secret information extraction. LSB is used to embed these parameters in the synthetic texture.     

Multiplexing Optical Images for Steganography by Single Metasurfaces

Image steganography based on intelligent devices is one of the effective routes for safely and quickly transferring secret information. However, optical image steganography has attracted far less attention than digital one due to the state-of-the-art technology limitations of high-resolution optical imaging in integrated devices. Optical metasurfaces, composed of ultrathin subwavelength meta-atoms, are extensively considered for flat optical-imaging nano-components with high-resolutions as competitive candidates for next-generation miniaturized devices. Here, multiplex imaging metasurfaces composed of single nanorods are proposed under a detailed strategy to realize optical image steganography. The simulation and experimental results demonstrate that an optical steganographic metasurface can simultaneously transfer independent secret image information to two receivers with special keys, without raising suspicions for the general public under the cloak of a cover image. The proposed optical steganographic strategy by metasurfaces can arbitrarily distribute a continuous grayscale image together with a black-and-white image in separate channels, implying the distinguishing feature of high-density information capacity for integration and miniaturization in optical meta-devices.     

Secret image transmission based on VQ and data embedding

A new secret image transmission scheme suitable for narrow communication channel is proposed in this article. A set of secret images can be simultaneously and efficiently delivered to the receiver via a small and meaningless data stream by the proposed scheme. To reduce the volume of secret images, a codebook is first generated and these secret images are encoded into binary indexes based on the vector quantization (VQ) technique. The compressed message is then embedded into the VQ codebook utilized in the encoding procedure by an adaptive least‐significant‐bits (LSB) modification technique. For the purpose of security, the slightly modified codebook is further encrypted into a meaningless data stream by the AES cryptosystem. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme provides an impressive improvement both in the visual quality of the extracted secret images at the receiver and in the hiding capacity of the cover medium. Experimental data also reveal the feasibility of the proposed secret image transmission scheme for limited‐bandwidth environment. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 17, 1–9, 2007     

Coverless Steganography for Digital Images Based on a Generative Model

In this paper, we propose a novel coverless image steganographic scheme based on a generative model. In our scheme, the secret image is first fed to the generative model database, to generate a meaning-normal and independent image different from the secret image. The generated image is then transmitted to the receiver and fed to the generative model database to generate another image visually the same as the secret image. Thus, we only need to transmit the meaning-normal image which is not related to the secret image, and we can achieve the same effect as the transmission of the secret image. This is the first time to propose the coverless image information steganographic scheme based on generative model, compared with the traditional image steganography. The transmitted image is not embedded with any information of the secret image in this method, therefore, can effectively resist steganalysis tools. Experimental results show that our scheme has high capacity, security and reliability.     

A method of data hiding in audio signal

Information hiding and secret communication is one of the most interesting and fascinating domains. This hiding method exploits some features of audio signals to be able to hide data from perception robustly. Every year researchers introduce their work and discuss how to make these techniques more and more robust against different types of attacks. In this article, we present an improved audio steganography approach that reduces distortion of the stego audio. Using the proposed algorithm, secret information is strongly protected from hackers and sent to its destination in a safe manner.     

Digital image watermarking based on VSS in BTC domain

Abstract

An image watermarking model based on visual secret sharing (VSS) is proposed for protection of ownership. In the embedding phase, the watermark is first divided by VSS into two parts: a hiding watermark and a secret watermark. Then only the hiding watermark is embedded into the original image and the secret watermark is reserved for watermark extracting by the owner. In the extracting phase, the hiding watermark is extracted from the watermarked image first and then directly superimposed on the secret watermark to recover the watermark information.     

A scheme of reversible information hiding based on SMVQ

Abstract

In this paper, we propose two reversible information hiding schemes based on side-match vector quantisation (SMVQ). In 2006, Chang et al. proposed a data-hiding scheme based on SMVQ coding. In order to increase both the image quality and the embedding capacity, we improve their method by embedding multiple secret bits into a block and finding out the second selected codeword from the full codebook. In addition, we propose another reversible information hiding scheme whose output is a pure VQ index table. The weighted bipartite graph is used to model our scheme and the matching approach is used to find out the best solution. Compared with Chang et al.’s scheme, we have higher visual quality in the experimental results.     

A new data encoding based on maximum to minimum histogram in reversible data hiding

The dual stego images based on data hiding has become popular in recent days. Since the embedding rate in dual stego images is very high. This paper proposes a new data encoding method based on maximum to the minimum histogram in reversible data hiding. This method estimates the encoded intensity from the message intensity and embeds the encoded intensity in the cover image. The stego image quality decreases the intensity of the hidden data which is high. The intensity of the data must be kept low to maintain a high-quality stego image. It is achieved using data encoding. Therefore, the proposed method uses new data encoding which converts the higher histogram data to lower intensity and the lower histogram data to higher intensity during the data embedding process. In the extraction process, the encoded intensities are decoded to message intensities to obtain the original data. The proposed data hiding approach has improved in terms of image quality (PSNR), structure similarity index measurements and embedding rate.     

An efficient reversible data hiding scheme based on SMVQ

Abstract

Data hiding technique can hide a certain amount of secret data into digital content such as image, document, audio or video. Reversible compressed image data hiding can loosely restore the cover image after extracting the secret data from the stego-image. In this paper, we present an efficient reversible image data hiding scheme based on side match vector quantisation. Mapping concept is useful for this scheme because it converts the ternary into binary. The proposed scheme significantly increases the payload size of a block, and the quality analysis of the proposed scheme showed that it contains a better peak signal to noise than other schemes.     

Coverless Information Hiding Based on the Molecular Structure Images of Material

The traditional information hiding methods embed the secret information by modifying the carrier, which will inevitably leave traces of modification on the carrier. In this way, it is hard to resist the detection of steganalysis algorithm. To address this problem, the concept of coverless information hiding was proposed. Coverless information hiding can effectively resist steganalysis algorithm, since it uses unmodified natural stego-carriers to represent and convey confidential information. However, the state-of-the-arts method has a low hidden capacity, which makes it less appealing. Because the pixel values of different regions of the molecular structure images of material (MSIM) are usually different, this paper proposes a novel coverless information hiding method based on MSIM, which utilizes the average value of sub-image’s pixels to represent the secret information, according to the mapping between pixel value intervals and secret information. In addition, we employ a pseudo-random label sequence that is used to determine the position of sub-images to improve the security of the method. And the histogram of the Bag of words model (BOW) is used to determine the number of sub-images in the image that convey secret information. Moreover, to improve the retrieval efficiency, we built a multi-level inverted index structure. Furthermore, the proposed method can also be used for other natural images. Compared with the state-of-the-arts, experimental results and analysis manifest that our method has better performance in anti-steganalysis, security and capacity.     

Anti-JPEG Compression Steganography Based on the High Tense Region Locating Method

Robust data hiding techniques attempt to construct covert communication in a lossy public channel. Nowadays, the existing robust JPEG steganographic algorithms cannot overcome the side-information missing situation. Thus, this paper proposes a new robust JPEG steganographic algorithm based on the high tense region location method which needs no side-information of lossy channel. First, a tense region locating method is proposed based on the Harris-Laplacian feature point. Then, robust cover object generating processes are described. Last, the advanced embedding cost function is proposed. A series of experiments are conducted on various JPEG image sets and the results show that the proposed steganographic algorithm can resist JPEG compression efficiently with acceptable performance against steganalysis statistical detection libraries GFR (Gabor Filters Rich model) and DCTR (Discrete Cosine Transform Residual).