Dual image based LSB steganography
01 Jan 2018-pp 61-66
TL;DR: A new steganographic model using dual image has been proposed to increase the obscurity of the secret as well as to make it more secure by using different dictionary word indexing scheme every time based on a random secret key that is appended in the embed key.
Abstract: A new steganographic model using dual image has been proposed to increase the obscurity of the secret as well as to make it more secure. It uses two different images namely reference image and cover image along with a secret embed key (stego key). Reference image is divided into blocks with assigned block-codes. Total number of blocks and other embedding parameters (block traversing direction, starting block etc.) are stored in the embed key. Secret message converted to binary and bit pairs are made. Bit pairs of secret message are encoded using the bit pairs of different blocks of reference image and sometimes updating a few LSB bits in the reference image. As an optional capacity enhancement module for text only secret messages dictionary word indexing based encoding is applied. Finally encoded bit stream is embedded into the cover image using any standard LSB technique with its own merits and demerits. LSB changes in the reference image are almost negligible. Embedding key is encrypted using public key of the receiver hence even if someone gets the encoded message it is not possible to get the secret message. As this model can use any existing LSB replacement scheme to embed encoded message into the cover image the state of the art security and other quality features are by default available to it. This is made more secure by using different dictionary word indexing scheme every time based on a random secret key that is appended in the embed key.
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01 May 2019
10 citations
22 Jul 2019
TL;DR: Comparative simulations with some well-known PVD-based techniques show good results in terms of visual imperceptibility and different quality metrics such as MSE, PSNR, SSIM etc.
Abstract: Pixel value differencing (PVD) and Least Significant Bit (LSB) embedding are well known spatial domain steganographic techniques. PVD utilizes the sharp changes of intensities among adjacent pixels where a large number of secret bits could be embedded without any perceptible change. one-time pad (OTP) symmetric cryptography is known for its security. In the proposed scheme one or more LSB bits of the selected pixels are used depending on the pixel intensity difference with neighboring pixels in 2 × 2 image blocks of the cover image. Secret bits are encrypted using OTP with randomly generated pre-shared key. Such encrypted bits are completely random and resemble noise hence make the scheme robust against different statistical attacks. Comparative simulations with some well-known PVD-based techniques show good results in terms of visual imperceptibility and different quality metrics such as MSE, PSNR, SSIM etc.
9 citations
Cites methods from "Dual image based LSB steganography"
...Authors in [10] used a reference image along with the cover image for encoding of the secret bits before embedding into the cover image LSBs....
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TL;DR: The proposed scheme successfully eludes many standard steganalysis attacks such as histogram-based analysis (PDH), chi-square based embed probability test, Regular and Singular groups (RS) analysis, sample pair test, etc.
Abstract: In spatial domain image steganography, Least Significant Bits (LSB) of cover image pixels are used to embed a secret message due to minimal distortion and higher payload capacity. In this paper, we have introduced an exclusive-OR (XOR) based encoding of encrypted secret message bits using varying higher-order pixel intensity bits. Encoding and LSB embedding is done block-wise by dividing the cover image into a number of blocks. The secret message is first encrypted using symmetric key cryptography and then encoded those encrypted bits by XORing them with randomly selected higher-order pixel bis of the cover image to obscure the secret bits further. Next, an inversion technique is applied to the encoded bits block-wise to keep the LSB bit changes to a minimum. The stego-key consists of the symmetric encryption key and the encode-key containing parameter settings such as the number_of_blocks, starting_block, start_pixel_offset, block_selection_rule, etc. This stego-key is shared prior to the actual communication using public-key cryptography to ensure the key’s authenticity and integrity. The extraction process does not require the cover image; the stego-image and the stego-key are sufficient. Experimental results show the visual imperceptibility along with improved image quality metrics such as Mean Square Error (MSE), Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR), Normalized Cross-Correlation (NCC), and Structural Similarity (SSIM) index in comparison to other well-known techniques. The average PSNR value remains above 51dB, even with 90% of the capacity utilized. The proposed scheme successfully eludes many standard steganalysis attacks such as histogram-based analysis (PDH), chi-square based embed probability test, Regular and Singular groups (RS) analysis, sample pair test, etc. on the tested stego-images.
8 citations
TL;DR: A novel technique has been proposed using a randomized indexed word dictionary, and a list of email addresses to increase the hiding capacity and security and is free from statistical attacks, OCR based attacks, and does not depend on the use of any particular text processor.
Abstract: Text steganography is inherently difficult due to minimal redundant information space to hide secret payload. The same fact limits the hiding capacity and security too. In this study, a novel technique has been proposed using a randomized indexed word dictionary, and a list of email addresses to increase the hiding capacity and security. A forward email platform has been used as the cover, and email addresses in the carbon copy (CC) field contain secret data that are encoded using a randomized index-based word dictionary. The email username list and indexed word dictionary are both pre-shared between the communicating parties. But during every new communication, a random bitstream (temporary stego-key) is generated from the system time and communicated separately using public-key cryptography. This temporary stego-key is used to randomize the index values of the words in the dictionary. Most of the existing state-of-the-art techniques provide a hiding capacity of 6–10%. The proposed scheme achieves a capacity of 12.17% using some common secret text and email body text (cover text) as used in all other studies. The proposed technique provides higher hiding capacity and security by randomizing the word indexes every time using temporary stego-key. It is also free from statistical attacks, OCR based attacks, and does not depend on the use of any particular text processor.
6 citations
TL;DR: An improved method for combine (LSB and MSB) Based on color image RGB based onColor image RGB is presented.
Abstract: Image steganography is the art of hiding data into an image by using the secret key. This paper presents two techniques that combine the most significant bit (MSB) as well as the least significant bit (LSB) based on a color image (24bit for RGB). The presented study proposes a novel method to combine (LSB and MSB) bits based on check MSB values and replace bits from LSB with a secret message. The result of this proposed method that made not affect quality stego -image based on the resulting histogram that shows a match between the cover image and stego- image and more secure because not hidden in all image. The factors were used Mean Square Error (MSE), Compute Payload, in addition to Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR). The PSNR’s rate is high and MSE is less. The result of this paper when applying on the different image gives high PSNR of 87.141 and less MSE of 0.00012 when inserting message 80 bits and reduction value PSNR of 72.023 and MSE of 0.0040 when inserting message 1200 bits and measure entropy is the same value for cover image and stego –image then this method is more security for the attacker.
6 citations
Cites methods from "Dual image based LSB steganography"
...The number of pixels varies with a change in the density value due to a change in the lSB pixels, better to be the differences in histogram less between the cover image and the Stego image because these changes can be used to reveal the secret message in stego analysis [12]....
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References
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TL;DR: This paper provides a state-of-the-art review and analysis of the different existing methods of steganography along with some common standards and guidelines drawn from the literature and some recommendations and advocates for the object-oriented embedding mechanism.
1,572 citations
"Dual image based LSB steganography" refers background in this paper
...tries to find or brute force the key to unscramble the secret) and eventually someday may get successful but in steganography no one other than the intended party is aware of the secret message being transmitted so it does not attract attackers [2]....
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TL;DR: A new and efficient steganographic method for embedding secret messages into a gray-valued cover image that provides an easy way to produce a more imperceptible result than those yielded by simple least-significant-bit replacement methods.
1,078 citations
"Dual image based LSB steganography" refers methods in this paper
...A large number of different LSB based steganographic methods with variations in hidden data embedding has been proposed and evaluated [11-13, 5-6]....
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...In pixel value differencing method (PVD) [6] cover image is partitioned into 2 pixel width non-overlapping blocks and a difference value is calculated....
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14 Apr 1998
TL;DR: An information-theoretic model for steganography with passive adversaries is proposed and several secure steganographic schemes are presented; one of them is a universal information hiding scheme based on universal data compression techniques that requires no knowledge of the covertext statistics.
Abstract: An information-theoretic model for steganography with passive adversaries is proposed. The adversary’s task of distinguishing between an innocent cover message C and a modified message S containing a secret part is interpreted as a hypothesis testing problem. The security of a steganographic system is quantified in terms of the relative entropy (or discrimination) between P C and P S. Several secure steganographic schemes are presented in this model; one of them is a universal information hiding scheme based on universal data compression techniques that requires no knowledge of the covertext statistics.
882 citations
"Dual image based LSB steganography" refers background in this paper
...Bandwidth to send the cover image increases by almost 8 times of the hidden message with 1 bit LSB [10]....
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TL;DR: A novel method to embed important data in the host image so that the interceptors will not notice about the existence of the data is developed and an improved hiding technique is developed to obtain a high-quality embedding result.
703 citations
"Dual image based LSB steganography" refers methods in this paper
...A large number of different LSB based steganographic methods with variations in hidden data embedding has been proposed and evaluated [11-13, 5-6]....
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...Long back in 2001 researchers had used genetic algorithm to find heuristic solution to hide secret message optimally in the right most k LSB bits of cover image without doing huge computation for large k value [11]....
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Proceedings Article•
01 Jan 2005TL;DR: This paper intends to give an overview of image steganography, its uses and techniques, and attempts to identify the requirements of a good steganographic algorithm and briefly reflects on which Steganographic techniques are more suitable for which applications.
Abstract: Steganography is the art of hiding the fact that communication is taking place, by hiding information in other information. Many different carrier file formats can be used, but digital images are the most popular because of their frequency on the Internet. For hiding secret information in images, there exists a large variety of steganographic techniques some are more complex than others and all of them have respective strong and weak points. Different applications have different requirements of the steganography technique used. For example, some applications may require absolute invisibility of the secret information, while others require a larger secret message to be hidden. This paper intends to give an overview of image steganography, its uses and techniques. It also attempts to identify the requirements of a good steganographic algorithm and briefly reflects on which steganographic techniques are more suitable for which applications.
538 citations
"Dual image based LSB steganography" refers background in this paper
...Ontologically steganography is the art of hidden writing as in Greek “Steganos” implies hidden or covered and “Graphien” means writing [1]....
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