Multiple histograms based reversible data hiding by using FCM clustering

Visual secret sharing (VSS), also called visual cryptography, allows a secret image to be divided into several shares and the secret image can only be recovered through the collaboration of the shares. Due to high security and low computational complexity, VSS has been widely used in secure communications. In this paper, we propose the first turtle shell (TS)-based VSS scheme that shares the secret information into two meaningful shares. Firstly, a TS reference matrix is established. Then, secret information is hidden in a cover image to construct two meaningful shares with the help of TS reference matrix. The hidden secret information can be extracted without distortion if both shares are gathered and the cover image can be correctly restored by solving the location conflict problem. Moreover, an invalid share can easily be detected by the proposed scheme. Experimental results indicate that the proposed scheme provides excellent visual quality and is superior to state-of-the-art VSS schemes.

A turtle shell-based visual secret sharing scheme with reversibility and authentication

Abstract The Internet is a public network with many issues of data transfer security. Steganography is a data transmission security technique that is done by hiding the message in a container media, such as an image. The media certainly has its limited payload to accommodate the embedded data. This paper proposes a method for increasing the payload of secret messages in an image. The edge area is used to accommodate more message bits because the image edge area can better tolerate pixel value changes. In this research paper, Canny and Sobel detectors are combined to get a wider edge area. This two-detector combined method provides a larger edge area for greater payload of messages while maintaining imperceptibility of stego-images.

/pdf/an-enhanced-lsb-image-steganography-using-the-hybrid-canny-1ecmql4jzu.pdf

An Enhanced LSB-Image Steganography Using the Hybrid Canny-Sobel Edge Detection

Abstract Steganography is the science and art of covert communication. Conversely, steganalysis is the study of uncovering the steganographic process. The evolution of steganography has been paralleled by the development of steganalysis. In this game of hide and seek, the two player’s steganography and steganalysis always want to break the other down. Over the past three decades, research has produced a plethora of remarkable image steganography techniques (ISTs). The major challenge for most of these ISTs is to achieve a fair balance between the metrics such as high hiding capacity (HC), better imperceptibility, and improved security. This study aims to present an exhaustive scrutiny of various ISTs from the classical to recent developments in the spatial domain, with respect to various image steganographic metrics. Further, the current status, recent developments, open challenges, and promising directions in this field are also highlighted.

/pdf/digital-image-steganography-and-steganalysis-a-journey-of-3pydlnjt51.pdf

Digital image steganography and steganalysis: A journey of the past three decades

Securing images can be achieved using cryptography and steganography. Combining both techniques can improve the security of images. Usually, Arnoldâ€™s transformation (ACM) is used to encrypt an image by randomizing the image pixels. However, applying only a transformation algorithm is not secure enough to protect the image. In this study, ACM was combined with RSA, another encryption technique, which has an exponential process that uses large numbers. This can confuse attackers when they try to decrypt the cipher images. Furthermore, this paper also proposes combing ACM with RSA and subsequently embedding the result in a cover image with inverted two-bit LSB steganography, which replaces two bits in the bit plane of the cover image with message bits. This modified steganography technique can provide twice the capacity of the previous method. The experimental result was evaluated using PSNR and entropy as the parameters to obtain the quality of the stego images and the cipher images. The proposed method produced a highest PSNR of 57.8493 dB and entropy equal to 7.9948.

A Combination of Inverted LSB, RSA, and Arnold Transformation to get Secure and Imperceptible Image Steganography

Data hiding is a well-known technique which embeds the secret data into a digital media. Most of the existing schemes either have the low image quality, or provide the restricted embedding capacity. In this paper, a new data hiding scheme based on turtle shell is proposed to obtain better image quality and higher embedding capacity. In the proposed scheme, a secret digit is embedded into each cover pixel pair with the guidance of the turtle shell. Experimental results reveal that the proposed scheme ensures not only higher embedding capacity, but also obtains better visual quality compared with the existing schemes.

A Novel Turtle Shell Based Scheme for Data Hiding

A high payload steganographic algorithm based on edge detection

Data hiding is a technique for sending secret information under the cover of the digital media. It is usually used to protect privacy and sensitive information when such information is transmitted via a public network. To date, high capacity remains one of the most important research aspects of data hiding. In this study, a new, turtle shell-based data hiding scheme is proposed to improve embedding capacity further while guaranteeing good image quality. In the proposed, turtle shell-based scheme, a reference matrix is composed and a location table is generated. Then, according to the reference matrix and the location table, each pixel pair is processed to conceal four secret bits. The experimental results indicated that the proposed scheme achieved higher embedding capacity and lower distortion of images than some existing schemes.

High capacity turtle shell-based data hiding

Reversible data hiding for JPEG images employing all quantized non-zero AC coefficients

In this study, the authors propose a novel (2, 2) secret image sharing scheme in which a control parameter ω is used to change the payload easily. Since the modification of the original cover pixel values can be limited within a small range according to the value of ω, the shadow images can achieve excellent visual quality. In the extracting process, the secret image and the cover image can be reconstructed correctly. Experimental results showed that the authors’ proposed scheme can enhance the embedding rate significantly, up to 3 bpp if ω is set to 6. In addition, the peak signal-to-noise ratio values of the shadow images are still satisfactory when the embedding rate approaches a very high value. Comparisons demonstrated that their proposed scheme outperforms other schemes that have been developed recently in terms of the embedding rate and the visual quality.

Yanjun Liu

Papers

A Novel Turtle Shell Based Scheme for Data Hiding

A high payload steganographic algorithm based on edge detection

High capacity turtle shell-based data hiding

Reversible data hiding for JPEG images employing all quantized non-zero AC coefficients

Distortion-free secret image sharing method with two meaningful shadows