Title: Adaptive steganographic scheme using a variable matrix embedding

Authors: Youssef Taouil; El Bachir Ameur; Amine Benhfid; Rachid Harba; Hassan Douzi

Addresses: Department of Computer Sciences, Ibn Tofail University, Kenitra, Morocco ' Department of Computer Sciences, Ibn Tofail University, Kenitra, Morocco ' Department of Computer Sciences, Ibn Tofail University, Kenitra, Morocco ' PRISME Laboratory, Orleans University, Orleans, France ' Laboratory IRF-SIC, Ibn Zohr University, Agadir, Morocco

Abstract: Steganography is the art of concealing secret information within digital media. In this paper, an adaptive steganographic scheme based on Faber-Schauder discrete wavelet transform (DWT) is proposed. Data is hidden in the details coefficients, which are divided into smooth and complex areas. In the smooth area, we hide one bit in every coefficient via a variable matrix embedding that hides 2n bits of data into 2n+1 coefficients while modifying at most n coefficients. In the complex area, data is hidden by substituting the least significant bits (LSBs) of the coefficients, and the optimal pixel adjustment procedure (OPAP) is utilised to minimise the modification. The performance is tested through experiments and comparison to literature. We obtain a good imperceptibility and embedding rate that respect the complexity of the cover image. We also reach a high level of security by using a correcting procedure that preserves the histogram in the smooth area.

Keywords: information security; adaptive steganography; data hiding; matrix embedding; least significant bit; LSB; wavelet transform; optimal pixel adjustment procedure; OPAP.

DOI: 10.1504/IJICS.2022.122373

International Journal of Information and Computer Security, 2022 Vol.17 No.3/4, pp.231 - 260

Received: 31 May 2018
Accepted: 16 Mar 2019

Published online: 22 Apr 2022 *

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