Generic placeholder image

Current Chinese Computer Science

Author(s): Abdiqani A. Saliban and Yinglei Song*

DOI: 10.2174/2665997202666220329183806

Cite As
An Image-Based Information Hiding Approach with Chaotic Systems and Optimized Security

Article ID: e290322202785 Pages: 11

  • * (Excluding Mailing and Handling)

Abstract

Background: Recently, information hiding has become an important approach to securely storing and transmitting important information in digital media.

Objectives: This paper proposes a new approach to hide information in a color image with optimized security.

Methods: The approach performs the hiding in two phases. Firstly, the information that needs to be hidden in an image is represented by a sequence of binary bits, and the sequence is shuffled and encrypted with a set of three-dimensional chaotic systems. Secondly, the binary bits in the shuffled and encrypted sequence are hidden into the R, G, and B components of the pixels in the given color image with a dynamic programming approach.

Results: Experimental results show that the proposed approach can securely hide information in a color image without generating significant changes in the visual contents of a color image. The analysis also shows that the proposed approach is robust against potential attacks.

Conclusion: The proposed approach is thus practically useful for applications aimed at image-based information hiding.

Keywords: Information hiding, color images, three-dimensional chaotic systems, optimization, dynamic programming, key space.

Graphical Abstract

[1]
I.J. Kadhim, P. Premaratne, P.J. Vial, and B. Halloran, "Comprehensive survey of image steganography: Techniques, evaluations, and trends in future research", Neurocomputing, vol. 335, pp. 299-326, 2019.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neucom.2018.06.075]
[2]
X. Zhang, Z. Sun, Z. Tang, C. Yu, and X. Wang, "High capacity data hiding based on interpolated image", Multimedia Tools Appl., vol. 76, no. 7, pp. 9195-9218, 2017.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11042-016-3521-0]
[3]
A.P. Fabien, R.J. Anderson, and M.G. Kuhn, "Information hiding-a survey", In Proceeding of the IEEE Special Issue on Protection of Multimedia Content, vol. 87, 1999, no. 7, pp. 1062-1078
[4]
M.C. Trivedi, S. Sharma, and V.K. Yadav, "Analysis of several image steganography techniques in spatial domain: A survey", In In: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Information and Communication Technology for Competitive Strategies (ICTCS), Udaipur, India, 2016, pp. 1-7
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2905055.2905294]
[5]
N. Mukherjee, G. Paul, and S.K. Saha, "An efficient multi-bit steganography algorithm in spatial domain with two-layer security", Multimedia Tools Appl., vol. 77, no. 14, pp. 18451-18481, 2018.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11042-018-5720-3]
[6]
M. Hussain, A.W.A. Wahab, Y.I.B. Idris, A.T.S. Ho, and K.H. Jung, "Image steganography in spatial domain: A survey", Signal Process. Image Commun., vol. 65, pp. 46-66, 2018.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.image.2018.03.012]
[7]
X. Hu, J. Ni, and Y.Q. Shi, "Efficient JPEG steganography using domain transformation of embedding entropy", IEEE Signal Process. Lett., vol. 25, no. 6, pp. 773-777, 2018.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/LSP.2018.2818674]
[8]
M.Y. Valandar, P. Ayubi, and M.J. Barani, "A new transform domain steganography based on modified logistic chaotic map for color images", J. Inf. Secur. Appl., vol. 34, pp. 142-151, 2017.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jisa.2017.04.004]
[9]
T. Lu, S. Liao, and C. Chang, "The information hiding technology based on the similar sample blocks of grayscale image", In Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Intelligent Information Hiding and Multimedia Signal Processing, New York Washington D.C., USA, 2010, pp. 17-20
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/IIHMSP.2010.12]
[10]
J. Fridrich, M. Goljan, and R. Du, "Detecting LSB steganography in color, and gray-scale images", IEEE Multimed., vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 22-28, 2001.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/93.959097]
[11]
H.C. Wu, N.I. Wu, C.S. Tsai, and M.S. Hwang, "Image steganographic scheme based on pixel-value differencing and LSB replacement methods", IEE Proc. Vis. Image Signal Process., vol. 152, no. 5, pp. 611-615, 2005.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1049/ip-vis:20059022]
[12]
C.C. Chang, and H.W. Tseng, "A steganographic method for digital images using side match", Pattern Recognit. Lett., vol. 25, no. 12, pp. 1431-1437, 2005.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.patrec.2004.05.006]
[13]
C.M. Wang, N.I. Wu, C.S. Tsai, and M.S. Hwang, "A high quality steganographic method with pixel-value differencing and modulus function", J. Syst. Softw., vol. 81, no. 1, pp. 150-158, 2008.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2007.01.049]
[14]
Y. Song, J. Song, and J. Qu, "Optimal image based information hiding with one-dimensional chaotic systems and dynamic programming", Int. Arab J. Inf. Technol., vol. 19, no. 1, p. 1, 2022.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.34028/iajit/19/1/1]
[15]
P. Pal, P. Chowdhuri, and B. Jana, "Weighted matrix based reversible watermarking scheme using color image", Multimedia Tools Appl., vol. 77, no. 18, pp. 23073-23098, 2018.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11042-017-5568-y]
[16]
A. Malik, G. Sikka, and H.K. Verma, "A reversible data hiding scheme for interpolated images based on pixel intensity range", Multimedia Tools Appl., vol. 79, no. 25-26, pp. 1-7, 2020.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11042-020-08691-2]
[17]
P. Chowdhuri, and B. Jana, "Hiding data in dual color images reversibly via weighted matrix", J. Inf. Secur. Appl., vol. 50, pp. 102420-102434, 2020.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jisa.2019.102420]
[18]
Z.L. Zhou, Y. Cao, and X.M. Sun, "Coverless information hiding based on bag-of-words model of image", J. Appl. Sci. Electron. Inf. Eng., vol. 34, no. 5, pp. 527-536, 2016.
[19]
Y. Chen, C. Yu, X. Zhang, Z. Tang, and N. He, "Reversible information hiding method in encrypted image based on surface interpolation", J. Appl. Sci., vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 220-236, 2018.
[20]
T. Zhang, Y. Liu, S. Ren, and D. Zhang, "Differential histogram shift lossless information hiding algorithm based on LBP face texture feature", Jisuanji Yingyong Yanjiu, vol. 37, no. 6, pp. 1774-1778, 2019.
[21]
S. Ren, M. Wang, K. Shahzad, Z. Gao, and J. Xu, "Multi-Carrier information hiding algorithm based on angle structure descriptor", IEEE Access, vol. 8, pp. 122565-122578, 2020.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2020.3006560]
[22]
L.D. Singh, and K.M. Singh, "Visually meaningful multi-image encryption scheme", Arab. J. Sci. Eng., vol. 43, no. 12, pp. 7397-7407, 2018.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13369-018-3104-7]
[23]
Z. Zhao, Q. Guan, X. Zhao, H. Yu, and C. Liu, "Universal embedding strategy for batch adaptive steganography in both spatial and JPEG domain", Multimedia Tools Appl., vol. 77, no. 11, pp. 14093-14113, 2017.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11042-017-5016-z]
[24]
G. Chen, H. Shen, Y. Wu, and J. Chen, "Research on multi-carrier image separation and steganography algorithm", Comput. Eng, vol. 38, no. 4, pp. 116-118, 2012.
[25]
X. Zhang, Z. Qian, and S. Li, "Prospects of information hiding research", J. Appl. Sci., vol. 34, no. 5, pp. 475-489, 2016.
[26]
T. Denemark, and J. Fridrich, "Steganography with multiple JPEG images of the same scene", IEEE Trans. Inf. Forensics Security, vol. 12, no. 10, pp. 2308-2319, 2017.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TIFS.2017.2705625]
[27]
L. Chen, H.W. Liu, and X.H. Deng, "Reversible watermarking algorithm for digital image based on integer wavelet transform", Comput. Appl. Softw., vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 286-291, 2016.
[28]
V.A. Mitekin, and V.A. Fedoseev, "New secure QIM-based information hiding algorithms", Comput. Opt., vol. 42, no. 1, pp. 118-127, 2018.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.18287/2412-6179-2018-42-1-118-127]
[29]
J.M. Abdul, T.K. Khalaf, R. Karthikeyan, A. Ahmed, H. Tasawar, and P. Viet–Thanh, "A new three-dimensional chaotic flow with one stable equilibrium: Dynamical properties and complexity analysis", Open Phys., vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 260-265, 2018.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/phys-2018-0037]
[30]
D. Martin, C. Fowlkes, D. Tal, and J. Malik, "A database of human segmented natural images and its application to evaluating segmentation algorithms and measuring ecological statistics", Proceedings Eighth IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision. (ICCV), vol. 2, pp. 416-423, 2001.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ICCV.2001.937655]