Abstract
The protection of confidential information transmitted over the Internet and restricting access to specific classified data have become a major security and privacy issue. To conceal the existence of such data, digital image steganography is employed hiding the secret in questions within a cover image, arriving at a new image that is virtually indistinguishable from the original. Thus, concealed data within the cover image is prevented from being detected via unauthorized access. In light of the above, certain aspects, such as the capacity of the cover image and the imperceptibility, need to be analyzed and addressed as they constitute the crucial assessment parameters for the performance of the steganography algorithms. In this paper, we compare the steganography algorithms of least significant bit and discrete wavelet transform in terms of efficiency and capacity of concealing multiple images within a single cover image. We cover the mechanism of the embedding and extraction algorithms for multiple numbers of images to come up with knowledgeable remarks. Furthermore, performance of these stego-algorithms has been evaluated with regard to the capacity of the cover image, imperceptibility of the data, and security.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Kavitha, K.K.; Koshti, A.; Dunghav, P.: Steganography using least significant bit algorithm. Int. J. Eng. Res. Appl. 2(3), 338–341 (2012)
Gupta, S.; Goyal, A.; Bhushan, B.: Information hiding using least significant bit steganography and cryptography. Int. J. Mod. Educ. Comput. Sci. 4(6), 27 (2012)
Hussain, M.; Wahab, A.W.A.; Ho, A.T.S.; Javed, N.; Jung, K.-H.: A data hiding scheme using parity-bit pixel value differencing and improved rightmost digit replacement. Signal Process. Image Commun. 50, 44–57 (2017)
Kini, N.G.; Kini, V.G.; Gautam.: A secured steganography algorithm for hiding an image in an image. In: Integrated Intelligent Computing, Communication and Security Studies in Computational Intelligence, vol. 771. Springer (2019)
Kadhim, I.J.; et al.: Comprehensive survey of image steganography: techniques, evaluations, and trends in future research. Neurocomputing 335, 299–326 (2019)
Hussain, M.; Wahab, A.W.A.; Javed, N.; Jung, K.-H.: Recursive information hiding scheme through LSB, PVD Shift, and MPE. IETE Tech. Rev. 35(1), 53–63 (2018)
Alsaidi, A.; Gutub, A.; Alkhodaidi, T.: Cybercrime on Transportation Airline. J. Forensic Res. 10(4), ISSN: 2157-7145
Hussain, M.; et al.: Image steganography in spatial domain: a survey. Signal Process. Image Commun. 65, 46–66 (2018)
Li, B.; et al.: A survey on image steganography and steganalysis. J. Inf. Hiding Multimed. Signal Process. 2(2), 142–172 (2011)
Sutaone, M.S.; Khandare, M.V.: Image based steganography using LSB insertion, pp. 146–151 (2008).
Rajendran, S.; Doraipandian, M.: Chaotic map based random image steganography using LSB technique. IJ Netw. Secur. 19(4), 593–598 (2017)
Samkari, H.; Gutub, A.: Protecting medical records against cybercrimes within Hajj period by 3-layer security. Recent Trends Inf. Technol. Its Appl. 2(3), 1–21 (2019). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3543455
Gutub, A.; Alaseri, K.: Hiding shares of counting-based secret sharing via Arabic text steganography for personal usage. Arab. J. Sci. Eng. (2019). ISSN: 2193-567X; https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-019-04010-6
Al-Juaid, N.; Gutub, A.: Combining RSA and audio steganography on personal computers for enhancing security. SN Appl. Sci. 1(8). ISSN: 2523-3963, https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-019-0875-8
Al-Juaid, N.; Gutub, A.; Khan, E.: Enhancing PC data security via combining RSA cryptography and video based steganography. J. Inf. Secur. Cybercrimes Res. (JISCR) 1(1), 8–18 (2018)
Alotaibi, M.; Al-hendi, D.; Alroithy, B.; AlGhamdi, M.; Gutub, A.: Secure mobile computing authentication utilizing hash, cryptography and steganography combination. J Inf Secur Cybercrimes Res (JISCR) 2(1), 9–20 (2019)
Alanizy, N.; Alanizy, A.; Baghoza, N.; AlGhamdi, M.; Gutub, A.: 3-layer PC text security via combining compression, AES cryptography 2LSB image steganography. J. Res. Eng. Appl. Sci. (JREAS) 3(4), 118–124 (2018)
Farooqi, N.; Gutub, A.; Khozium, M.O.: Smart community challenges: enabling IoT/M2M technology case study. Life Sci. J. 16(7) (2019). ISSN: 1097-8135
Alassaf, N.; Gutub, A.; Parah, S.; Al Ghamdi, M.: Enhancing speed of SIMON: a light-weight-cryptographic algorithm for IoT applications. Multimed. Tools Appl. Int. J. (2018). ISSN 1380-7501; https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-018-6801-z
Alsaidi, A.; Al-lehaibi, K.; Alzahrani, H.; AlGhamdi, M.; Gutub, A.: Compression multi-level crypto stego security of texts utilizing colored email forwarding. J. Comput. Sci. Comput. Math. (JCSCM) 8(3), 33–42 (2018). https://doi.org/10.20967/jcscm.2018.03.002
Zakaria, A.A.; Hussain, M.; Wahab, A.W.A.; Idris, M.Y.I.; Abdullah, N.A.; Jung, K.-H.: High-capacity image steganography with minimum modified bits based on data mapping and LSB substitution. Appl. Sci. 8(11), 2199 (2018)
Gutub, A.; Al-Ghamdi, M.: Hiding shares by multimedia image steganography for optimized counting-based secret sharing. Multimed. Tools Appl. (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-019-08427-x
Wu, D.-C.; Tsai, W.-H.: A steganographic method for images by pixel-value differencing. Pattern Recognit. Lett. 24(9–10), 1613–1626 (2003)
Chang, K.-C.; Chang, C.-P.; Huang, P.S.; Tu, T.-M.: A novel image steganographic method using Tri-way pixel-value differencing. J. Multimedia 3(2), 37–44 (2008)
Grajeda-Marín, I.R.; Venegas, H.A.M.; Marcial-Romero, J.R.; Servín, J.A.H.; Muñoz-Jiménez, V.; De Ita, L.G.: A new optimization strategy for solving the fall-off boundary value problem in pixel-value differencing steganography. Int. J. Pattern Recognit. Artif. Intell. (IJPRAI) 32(01), 1860010 (2018)
Swain, G.: A steganographic method combining LSB substitution and PVD in a block. Procedia Comput. Sci. 85, 39–44 (2016)
Kalita, M.; Tuithung, T.: A novel steganographic method using 8-neighboring PVD (8nPVD) and LSB substitution. In: 2016 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Signals and Image Processing (IWSSIP) (2016)
Pal, S.; Bandyopadhyay, S.K.: Verification of secret information in image steganography. Int. J. Appl. Res. Inf. Technol. Comput. 7(2), 106–112 (2016)
Kumar, V.; Kumar, D.: A modified DWT-based image steganography technique. Multimed. Tools Appl. 77(11), 13279–13308 (2018)
Divya, V.; Sasirekha, N.: High capacity steganography technique based on wavelet transform. In: 2016 Online International Conference on Green Engineering and Technologies (IC-GET), Coimbatore, pp. 1–5 (2016).
Nemani, S.; Talari, J.P.; Vangala, S.: Estimation of performance metrics for reversible data hiding before encryption. In: 2017 IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Computing and Control Systems (ICICCS) (2017).
Memon, F.; Unar, M.K.; Memon, S.: Image quality assessment for performance evaluation of focus measure operators (2016). arXiv preprint arXiv:1604.00546
Bucerzan, D.; Raţiu, C.: Reliable Metrics for Image LSB Steganography on Mobile Platforms. In: International Workshop Soft Computing Applications. Springer, Cham (2016)
Al-Husainy, M.A.F.: Image steganography method preserves the histogram shape of image. Eur. J. Sci. Res. 130, 101–106 (2015)
Mujtiba, S.; Yousu, S.; Bisma, S.; Siddiqi, M.; Khaki, Z.: Comparison of LSB and DWT steganography techniques. Int. J. Adv. Eng. Res. Dev. 5(1), 1–5 (2018)
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Umm Al-Qura University for motivating this research.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interests
We declare that this article is original and has no conflict.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gutub, A., Al-Shaarani, F. Efficient Implementation of Multi-image Secret Hiding Based on LSB and DWT Steganography Comparisons. Arab J Sci Eng 45, 2631–2644 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-020-04413-w
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-020-04413-w