A comparative analysis of image steganography based on DCT algorithm and steganography tool to hide nuclear reactors confidential information

WITHDRAWN: Contrasting the performance metrics of discrete transformations on digital image steganography using artificial intelligence

A secure image steganography algorithm based on least significant bit and integer wavelet transform

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.

The goal of image steganographic methods considers three main key issues: high embedding capacity, good visual symmetry/quality, and security. In this paper, a hybrid data hiding method combining the right-most digit replacement (RMDR) with an adaptive least significant bit (ALSB) is proposed to provide not only high embedding capacity but also maintain a good visual symmetry. The cover-image is divided into lower texture (symmetry patterns) and higher texture (asymmetry patterns) areas and these textures determine the selection of RMDR and ALSB methods, respectively, according to pixel symmetry. This paper has three major contributions. First, the proposed hybrid method enhanced the embedding capacity due to efficient ALSB utilization in the higher texture areas of cover images. Second, the proposed hybrid method maintains the high visual quality because RMDR has the closest selection process to generate the symmetry between stego and cover pixels. Finally, the proposed hybrid method is secure against statistical regular or singular (RS) steganalysis and pixel difference histogram steganalysis because RMDR is capable of evading the risk of RS detection attacks due to pixel digits replacement instead of bits. Extensive experimental tests (over 1500+ cover images) are conducted with recent least significant bit (LSB)-based hybrid methods and it is demonstrated that the proposed hybrid method has a high embedding capacity (800,019 bits) while maintaining good visual symmetry (39.00% peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR)).

The success of internet technology transform the world of technology and fashioned our life such a lot easier. The matter of duplication and unauthorized use of information become a great threat within the field of technology. To beat these problems, techniques like digital watermarking, steganography and cryptography were introduced. The approach of embedding a secret data associated with the digital signal inside the signal itself is digital watermarking. For embedding and detecting the watermark different techniques are used; spatial domain techniques like Least Significant Bit (LSB) and Patch Work Algorithm, then the frequency domain techniques such as Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT), Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) and Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) are some of them. Combination of DCT & DWT technique for digital watermarking is proposed here. The proposed methodology is implemented in MATLAB 2017a simulator and result is analysed using evaluation parameters like Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) & Mean Square Error (MSE). PSNR value obtained for the case of watermarking using DWT is 27.46 and MSE value is 17.45. The value of PSNR for watermarking using DCT is 41.4 and for MSE the value is 0.67. The PSNR and MSE values obtained for watermarking using LSB technique is 50.55 and 0.58. The proposed method improves the watermarked image quality and the MSE & PSNR value obtained is 0.52 and 51.017 respectively.

Information system security is a crucial aspect in the digital era, especially for protecting sensitive data. One method to enhance data security is steganography, a technique for concealing information within digital media. This study analyzes the effectiveness of the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) method in digital image steganography. The research follows several stages, including literature review, system design, DCT implementation using MATLAB/Python, and performance evaluation based on Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR), Mean Squared Error (MSE), and Normalized Correlation (NC). Experimental results indicate that the DCT method achieves a high PSNR value (averaging above 40 dB) and a low MSE value, ensuring minimal image distortion after data embedding. Compared to the Least Significant Bit (LSB) method, DCT provides better resistance to visual analysis and is more suitable for images with transform-based compressions, such as JPEG. This study concludes that the DCT method is an effective steganography technique for enhancing information system security, despite challenges related to computational complexity and data embedding capacity. Future research may explore hybrid methods that combine DCT with other techniques to improve efficiency and robustness against various steganographic analysis attacks.

Aim: This paper mainly focused on introducing a new framework for image and text hiding using a simple Least Significant Bit (LSB) substitution method.  Results: Six 24-bit images are used as reference images. XOR operation is used in the stego key to generate new bit planes of the stego images. An RGB color image is used as a secret cover image. The proposed method dramatically increases the embedding capacity without significantly decreasing the Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) value.  Conclusion: This method increased the compression ratio, embedding ratio, PSNR and Space 24%, 53%, 36% and 47%, respectively. The result shows that the newly developed method improved the value of accuracy by 30% and sensitivity by 16% for the hidden images.  Keywords: LSB, PSNR, FNR (False Negative Rate), Sensitivity, MSE (Mean Square Error), Specificity HIGHLIGHTS: The newly developed method with simple Least Significant Bit (LSB) improved the accuracy value by 30%, and sensitivity by 16% for the hidden image. The improved LSB method increased security and preserved the quality of hidden images.

In recent years, internet revolution resulted in an explosive growth in multimedia applications. The rapid advancement of internet has made it easier to send the data/image accurate and faster to the destination. Besides this, it is easier to modify and misuse the valuable information through hacking at the same time. Digital watermarking is one of the proposed solutions for copyright protection of multimedia data. A watermark is a form, image or text that is impressed onto paper, which provides evidence of its authenticity. In this paper an invisible watermarking technique (least significant bit) and a visible watermarking technique is implemented. This paper presents the general overview of image watermarking and different security issues. Various attacks are also performed on watermarked images and their impact on quality of images is also studied. In this paper, Image Watermarking using Least Significant Bit (LSB) algorithm has been used for embedding the message/logo into the image. This work has been implemented through MATLAB. Keywords - Watermarking, Least Significant Bit (LSB), JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group), Mean Square Error (MSE) and Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR).

There is a huge resource of data available on the internet which one can access without realizing that the person is even authorized to access it or not. The hard work of the original resource person can easily be compromised. Digital watermarking is an answer to overcome this issue. This paper introduces a hybrid of LSB and DCT techniques, LSB(Least Significant Bit) and DCT(Discrete Cosine Transformation). The paper studies the two techniques along with the proposed technique and a comparison is drawn between the three based on MSE and PSNR values obtained. The introduced hybrid technique performs better in comparison to DCT and LSB. The MSE calculated was 64% better than LSB and 60% better than DCT resultantly PSNR is also observed to be better than LSB and DCT.

The confidential information is communicated through the open channel in a covert way by using steganography. In this paper we propose the Covariance based Steganography using Discrete Cosine Transform (CSDCT) algorithm. The Average Covariance of the Cover Image (ACCI) is computed and threshold ACCI value is fixed at 0.15. The cover image is segmented into 8*8 cells and the Least Significant Bit (LSBs) are replaced by Most Significant Bits (MSBs) of payload based on ACCI values. It is observed that the capacity, Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) and security is better compared to the existing algorithm.

Background and Objective: The public and group communication carried out in the social, cloud, and mobile networks suffer from unauthorized users. The data security is required for secure authentication, monetary transactions and other sensitive information. The steganography methods empower the user with invulnerable communication in public domain. In this paper, a region secure and pattern based alternate 2B-3C (2Bit-3Channel) Steganography method is proposed to improve the content reliability and data security. Methods: In this method, the cover pixels are retrieved by applying the spiral rectangular pattern over the cover image. This spiral pattern also secures the core content region and the pixels from the core ROI (Region of Interest) is used as a cover only for larger size secret information. In this proposed steganography method, two channels are considered alternatively based on the defined rules. The LSB (Least Significant Bit) of both channels is XOR with input data bits and key to perform data hiding. The method is applied on real time color images taken from COREL and USC-SIPI-ID. The evaluation of proposed steganography approach is done using MSE (Mean Square Error), PSNR (Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio), BER (Bit Error Rate), NCC (Normalized Cross Correlation) and SSIM (Structural Similarity Index Matrix). Result: The comparative results are generated for 50 real time images against the existing LSB (Least Significant Bit), LSBM (Least Significant Bit Modulation), LSBMR (Least Significant bit Matched Revisited), SCC (Stego Color Cycle), SHSI (Simple Hue-Saturation-Intensity), HIS-MLSB(Simple Hue-Saturation-Intensity-Modified LSB) and IMMEA(Iterative Magic Matrix Encryption Algorithm) methods. Conclusion: The experimentation results verified that the proposed 2B-3C approach improved the data hiding in qualitative and quantitative aspects.

Transform coding has been the focus of the research for image compression. In previous research, the Amplitude and Group Partitioning (AGP) coding scheme is proved to be a low complexity algorithm with higher performance, clearly one of the state-of-art transform coding techniques. However, the previous AGP is used along with the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) and the discrete wavelet transform. In this paper, a different transform, the Lapped Orthogonal Transform (LOT), replaces the DCT in conjunction with the AGP. This is the first time LOT and AGP have been combined in a coding method. The definition and design of the LOT are discussed. An objective metric to measure the performance of transform, coding gain, is calculated for both the DCT and the LOT. The LOT has slightly higher coding gain than the DCT. The principles of the LOT based AGP image codec (LOT-AGP) are presented and a complete codec, encoder and decoder, is implemented in software. The performance of the LOT-AGP is compared with other block transform coding schemes: the baseline JPEG codec and the DCT based AGP image codec (DCT- AGP) by both objective evaluation and subjective evaluation. The Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) is calculated for these three coding schemes. The two AGP codecs are much better than the JPEG codec on PSNR, from about 1.7 dB to 3 dB depending on bit rate. The two AGP schemes have PSNR differences only to a small degree. Visually, the LOT-AGP has the best-reconstructed images among these three at all bit rates. In addition, the coding results of two other state-of-art progressive image codecs are cited for further comparison. One is the Set Partitioning in Hierarchical Trees (SPIHT) algorithm with a dyadic wavelet transform, and the other is Tran and Nguyen's method with the generalized LOT transform. The AGP coding and the adaptive Huffman entropy coding of LOT-AGP are less complex and the memory usage is smaller than in these two progressive codecs. Comparing these three codecs, i.e. the LOT-AGP and the two progressive codecs in PSNR small only small differences in PSNR. SPIHT has about 1 dB higher PSNR than the LOT-AGP and Tran and Nguyen's method for the test image Lena. For the test image Barbara, the PSNR of the LOT- AGP is about 0.5 dB higher than that of the SPIHT and 0.5 dB lower than that of Tran and Nguyen's method. This low- complexity and high performance codec may provide a new direction for the implementation of image compression.

In the contemporary era, safeguarding vast amounts of sensitive data and ensuring secure communication are paramount concerns, especially given the prevalence of insecure networks. The fields of cryptography and steganography have emerged as pivotal tools in addressing these challenges, attracting significant scientific attention due to their established effectiveness. This paper proposes a sophisticated double-layered security system for protecting textual data, initially utilizing 2-D Cellular automata (CA) to establish robust encryption protocols. The incorporation of the Von Neumann neighborhood of 2-D CA enhances the generation of secure cryptographic keys, leveraging its complex and chaotic behavior to improve randomness and unpredictability. Subsequently, to enhance security, the discrete cosine transform (DCT) technique is integrated, facilitating discreet embedding of encrypted data into the least significant bit (LSB) of DCT coefficients. An exhaustive range of tests and evaluations, encompassing analysis of key space, complexity, performance metrics, avalanche effect, security attacks, peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and mean square error (MSE), substantiates the effectiveness and resilience of this multifaceted approach. The findings reveal a significant average avalanche effect of 76%, indicating resilience against cryptographic attacks. Furthermore, superior preservation of image quality is observed during encryption, as evidenced by improved PSNR and MSE values compared to alternative technique. The overall analyses validate the proposed method as a proficient solution for secure data encryption in cyberspace.

Steganography is the practice of hiding data, such as images, videos, or text, within a cover image without it being detectable by the human eye. Several factors, such as the capacity, security, and robustness of the technique, are essential when transferring information using this method. In this study, we propose a new approach to image steganography that improves the Least Significant Bit (LSB) technique by utilizing images of 24 bits in each pixel. Improving the capacity and security of LSB-based steganography requires a combination of techniques, such as indirect embedding, embedding in multiple channels, and applying cryptographic and compression techniques. This approach conducts by encrypting each compressed secret message bit with the most significant bit of the red channel and then saving the output bit (hidden bit) in the least significant bit of the (green/blue) channel according to the row value (odd/ even). To further security, the suggested approach uses multi-level encryption; employs RSA to encrypt the secret message before applying the Huffman compression and encrypting the hidden bit by (XOR/XNOR) in the embedding method based on the row value of the pixel. Meanwhile, it is planned to use the Huffman coding technique to shorten the length of the encrypted message that will be inserted in the cover image. For the color photos in this work, the standard images were acquired from a standard dataset (USC-SIPI). The suggested approach performs better when measured in terms of mean square error (MSE), peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), and comparison to findings from related prior efforts.

Presently, multi-day data security is the greatest issue of challenging over the world. There are various systems accessible for image and data security; watermarking is one of them. This paper proposes a new technique for watermarking encryption image by using LSB and based on the frequency and geometric transform. In this work, the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) technique is used to deal with the cover image at the frequency domain without spatial domain where late studies have shown the strength of this type of transform. The rotation geometric transforms applying on the logo image to preserve it and to protect it from eavesdropping and unauthorized entities. The rotate transform considers the type of disguise. Therefore, to increase the security of the watermarking system, it should be considered to also apply Rivest Cipher 4 (RC4) encryption algorithms on logo image before perform watermarking embedding. In finally Least Significant Bit (LSB) is used to embed a logo image in the cover image. The demonstrated experiment is based on Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Mean Squared Error (MSE), the DWT achieves better results as compared to other methods when the rate of PSNR reached from 50 dB to 60 dB.