scholarly journals Hybrid Image Steganography Method Using LZW and Genetic Algorithm for Hiding Confidential Data

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdulkarem Almawgani ◽  
Adam Alhawari ◽  
Wlaed Alarashi ◽  
Ali Alshwal

Abstract Digital images are commonly used in steganography due to the popularity of digital image transfer and exchange through the Internet. However, the tradeoff between managing high capacity of secret data and ensuring high security and quality of stego image is a major challenge. In this paper, a hybrid steganography method based on Haar Discrete Wavelet Transform (HDWT), Lempel Ziv Welch (LZW) algorithm, Genetic Algorithm (GA), and the Optimal Pixel Adjustment Process (OPAP) is proposed. The cover image is divided into non-overlapping blocks of nxn pixels. Then, the HDWT is used to increase the robustness of the stego image against attacks. In order to increase the capacity for, and security of, the hidden image, the LZW algorithm is applied on the secret message. After that, the GA is employed to give the encoded and compressed secret message cover image coefficients. The GA is used to find the optimal mapping function for each block in the image. Lastly, the OPAP is applied to reduce the error, i.e., the difference between the cover image blocks and the stego image blocks. This step is a further improvement to the stego image quality. The proposed method was evaluated using four standard images as covers and three types of secret messages. The results demonstrate higher visual quality of the stego image with a large size of embedded secret data than what is generated by already-known techniques. The experimental results show that the information-hiding capacity of the proposed method reached to 50% with high PSNR (52.83 dB). Thus, the herein proposed hybrid image steganography method improves the quality of the stego image over those of the state-of-the-art methods.

Author(s):  
Balkar Singh

In this paper, a novel image steganography approach is proposed to enhance the visual quality of stego image. The cover image is decomposed using Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) to produce wavelet subbands and threshold value is calculated for each higher frequency wavelet subbands. Wavelet coefficients having magnitude larger than the threshold of its subband are selected to embed the secret data. Semi Hexadecimal Code (SHC) is proposed to convert pixel value of secret image into smaller equivalent value so that it distorts stego image as less as possible. Experimental results shows that maximum PSNR between cover image and stego image is more than 75 dB .Proposed approach is also compared with the existing approaches and this comparison shows that the proposed approach is better than the existing approaches. 


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Chiung-Wei Huang ◽  
Changmin Chou ◽  
Yu-Che Chiu ◽  
Cheng-Yuan Chang

We propose a prototype of field programmable gate array (FPGA) implementation for optimal pixel adjustment process (OPAP) algorithm of image steganography. In the proposed scheme, the cover image and the secret message are transmitted from a personal computer (PC) to an FPGA board using RS232 interface for hardware processing. We firstly embed k-bit secret message into each pixel of the cover image by the last-significant-bit (LSB) substitution method, followed by executing associated OPAP calculations to construct a stego pixel. After all pixels of the cover image have been embedded, a stego image is created and transmitted from FPGA back to the PC and stored in the PC. Moreover, we have extended the basic pixel-wise structure to a parallel structure which can fully use the hardware devices to speed up the embedding process and embed several bits of secret message at the same time. Through parallel mechanism of the hardware based design, the data hiding process can be completed in few clock cycles to produce steganography outcome. Experimental results show the effectiveness and correctness of the proposed scheme.


2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 161066 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiv Prasad ◽  
Arup Kumar Pal

This paper presents a steganographic scheme based on the RGB colour cover image. The secret message bits are embedded into each colour pixel sequentially by the pixel-value differencing (PVD) technique. PVD basically works on two consecutive non-overlapping components; as a result, the straightforward conventional PVD technique is not applicable to embed the secret message bits into a colour pixel, since a colour pixel consists of three colour components, i.e. red, green and blue. Hence, in the proposed scheme, initially the three colour components are represented into two overlapping blocks like the combination of red and green colour components, while another one is the combination of green and blue colour components, respectively. Later, the PVD technique is employed on each block independently to embed the secret data. The two overlapping blocks are readjusted to attain the modified three colour components. The notion of overlapping blocks has improved the embedding capacity of the cover image. The scheme has been tested on a set of colour images and satisfactory results have been achieved in terms of embedding capacity and upholding the acceptable visual quality of the stego-image.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Xinliang Bi ◽  
Xiaoyuan Yang ◽  
Chao Wang ◽  
Jia Liu

Steganography is a technique for publicly transmitting secret information through a cover. Most of the existing steganography algorithms are based on modifying the cover image, generating a stego image that is very similar to the cover image but has different pixel values, or establishing a mapping relationship between the stego image and the secret message. Attackers will discover the existence of secret communications from these modifications or differences. In order to solve this problem, we propose a steganography algorithm ISTNet based on image style transfer, which can convert a cover image into another stego image with a completely different style. We have improved the decoder so that the secret image features can be fused with style features in a variety of sizes to improve the accuracy of secret image extraction. The algorithm has the functions of image steganography and image style transfer at the same time, and the images it generates are both stego images and stylized images. Attackers will pay more attention to the style transfer side of the algorithm, but it is difficult to find the steganography side. Experiments show that our algorithm effectively increases the steganography capacity from 0.06 bpp to 8 bpp, and the generated stylized images are not significantly different from the stylized images on the Internet.


Mathematics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 1394 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiaohua Qin ◽  
Jing Wang ◽  
Yun Tan ◽  
Huajun Huang ◽  
Xuyu Xiang ◽  
...  

Traditional image steganography needs to modify or be embedded into the cover image for transmitting secret messages. However, the distortion of the cover image can be easily detected by steganalysis tools which lead the leakage of the secret message. So coverless steganography has become a topic of research in recent years, which has the advantage of hiding secret messages without modification. But current coverless steganography still has problems such as low capacity and poor quality .To solve these problems, we use a generative adversarial network (GAN), an effective deep learning framework, to encode secret messages into the cover image and optimize the quality of the steganographic image by adversaring. Experiments show that our model not only achieves a payload of 2.36 bits per pixel, but also successfully escapes the detection of steganalysis tools.


2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Omar Banimelhem ◽  
Lo’ai Tawalbeh ◽  
Moad Mowafi ◽  
Mohammed Al-Batati

This paper proposes a more secure image hiding scheme using Optimal Pixel Adjustment Process (OPAP) and Genetic Algorithm (GA). The security issues of key selection that is used in image hiding are addressed. Thus, a more secure scheme is proposed in order to improve the security as well as the quality of the stego-image. Since GA is a semi-blind algorithm, it may select a key that affects the security. Therefore, the authores improve the security by applying image transformation not only using the GA key, but also using a user key. The user key is used to disarrange the pixel locations of the secret image. Then, the GA, using OPAP, selects the key that maximizes the quality as well as the security of the stego-image. From implementation point of view, the scheme uses a simple and fast transformation method that increases the difference between the secret image and its transformed version. The results showed that the resultant disarranged image cannot be detected, and at the same time the stego-image quality is still high.


Author(s):  
Chantana Chantrapornchai ◽  
Jitdumrong Preechasuk

Steganography is one of the techniques used to communicate secret data through the cover media such as images, videos, audio, texts etc. In this work, we consider the algorithms of steganography based on DCT and wavelet transform. The aspects of media quality after hiding the information in the digital media are considered. Particularly, we compare the performance of the prototype algorithms, representing the DCT and wavelet-based image steganography algorithms respectively, using the PSNR, capacity, robustness and accuracy aspects. For video steganography, with various wavelet transforms, we compare the quality of the derived information, when frames are dropped and the effects of payload is studied. The application of using such steganography algorithm which can embed multiple messages, each of which requires a separate key is proposed. The application can estimate the capacity used and capacity remains for the given cover image and texts.


Author(s):  
Kokila B. Padeppagol ◽  
Sandhya Rani M H

Image steganography is an art of hiding images secretly within another image. There are several ways of performing image steganography; one among them is the spatial approach.The most popular spatial domain approach of image steganography is the Least Significant Bit (LSB) method, which hides the secret image pixel information in the LSB of the cover image pixel information. In this paper a LSB based steganography approach is used to design hardware architecture for the Image steganography. The Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) is used here to transform the cover image into higher and lower wavelet coefficients and use these coefficients in hiding the secret image. the design also includes encryption of secret image data, to provide a higher level of security to the secret image. The steganography system involving the stegno module and a decode module is designed here. The design was simulated, synthesized and implemented on Artix -7 FPGA. The operation hiding and retrieving images was successfully verified through simulations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (12) ◽  
pp. 5279-5295
Author(s):  
S. Jahnavi ◽  
C. Nandini

With increase in growth of data and digital threat, demand of securing the data communicated over the internet is an essential play in the digital world. In the vision of digitalizing services with the next generation of security to the sensitive data transmitted over the internet by hiding the existence of the data using next generation cryptography by fusing cryptography techniques is one the major technique adopted. With this the aim in traditional Least Significant Bit (LSB) is one of the widely used technique. Where the secret message or image are placed in the cover image in the least significant bits of RGB Channels resulting in a stego image. But the drawback is, on suspecting the differences in the pixels of original and stegoimage in the secret data embedded can be guessed and extracted by attacker. The Proposed visual crypto-mask steganography method overcomes this drawback and support good payload capacity with multi modal approach of embedding biometrics, resulting in ∞ PSNR. The authenticated person face and fingerprint information is transmitted in a cover image and mask image (magic sheet) using proposed steganography and is combined with Random Visual Crypto Technique. Which results in enhanced and advance visual crypto steganography secured model in communicating sensitive (biometric features) information over the internet. Where the complete information cannot be extracted using only cover image. Mask image (magic sheet) is used along with cover image that reveals the secret data in the receiving end.


This paper presents a critical analysis on new and original proposed algorithm based on hiding any data has been used that overcomes the disadvantages of the existing algorithms and helps to provide less similarity between cover image and stego image and obtain accuracy upto 69.6 percentage and increases its robustness using metrics called mean square error and peak signal to noise ratio. In the wireless environment cryptography suffers from various spyware programs that shows corrupted secret information to innocent users who uses image steganography services from user. In our proposed prototype helps to authenticate the sender to make the unnoticeable image from original image. In our proposal work discovers a secure authentication communication model would able to cover multimedia data like first text to be hide, second image to be hide and third audio secret data to be hide in cover image without much noticed to any user in between network. In order to provide additional security to this model we incorporate AES encryption scheme where secret message is encrypted and hidden in the cover audio. The proposed approach uses DCT coefficient computation and AES encryption scheme. An extensive experimental study is carried based on different test cases and evaluated against state-of-art techniques. The experimental study shows that the proposed approach achieves better performance for audio steganography. Keywords: AES, steganography, cover image, hiding image, network, digital data.


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