HIGHLY EFFICIENT IMAGE STEGANOGRAPHY USING HAAR DWT FOR HIDING MISCELLANEOUS DATA

(Received: 2015-12-15, Revised: 2016-01-22 , Accepted: 2016-01-31)

Authors Hamad A. Al-Korbi, Ali Al-Ataby, Majid A. Al-Taee, Waleed Al-Nuaimy,

Keywords #Data hiding #Haar Wavelet transform #Information security #LSB #MSE #Pseudo random number #PSNR #Robustness #Steganography

Abstract Protecting private data exchanged over the Internet and controlling access to this data have become a growing privacy and confidentiality concern. Digital image steganography helps conceal private data within a cover image to obtain a new image, practically indistinguishable from the original, in such a way that unauthorized individuals cannot detect the presence of the concealed data in the new cover. Capacity size of the cover image and imperceptibility are therefore considered critical requirements to assess the performance of steganography algorithms. This paper presents a highly efficient steganography algorithm that is capable of hiding a large size of miscellaneous data (text files, binary images, coloured images or a combination of these data types) in a single cover image using Haar Wavelet transform. Details of the proposed embedding and extraction algorithms for different data types are presented and discussed. The performance of the proposed steganography method is assessed in terms of the capacity of the cover image, imperceptibility and robustness. The obtained experimental results and observations demonstrated that the developed algorithms are highly efficient in terms of the capacity size of the cover image while maintaining a relatively low mean square error (MSE), high peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and a reasonable robustness against various attacks.

References

[1] H. V. Desai, "Steganography, Cryptography, Watermarking: A Comparative Study," Journal of Global Research in Computer Science, vol. 3, no. 12, pp. 33-35, 2012.

[2] M. A. Al-Taee, N. H. Al-Hassani, B. S. Bamajbour and D. Al-Jumeily, "Biometric-Based Security System for Plaintext E-mail Messages," in: Proc. International Conference on Developments in eSystems Engineering, Abu Dhabi, UAE, , pp. 1-6, 14 – 16 December 2009.

[3] N. Qasrawi, M. A. Al-Taee, H. I’emair and R. Al-Asa’d, "Multilevel Encryption of Plaintext Messages Using a Smart Card Connected to PC Parallel Port," in: Proc. 3rd International Conference on Modelling, Simulation and Applied Optimization, Sharjah-UAE, , pp. 1-6, 20-22 January 2009.

[4] S. Katzenbeisser and F. A. Petitcolas, Information Hiding Techniques for Steganography and Digital Watermarking, Artech House Inc, 2000.

[5] H. A. Al-Korbi, A. Al-Ataby, M. A. Al-Taee and W. Al-Nuaimy, "High-Capacity Image Steganography Based on Haar DWT for Hiding Miscellaneous Data," in: Proc. IEEE/ AEECT'2015 Jordan Conference on Applied Electrical Engineering and Computing Technologies, Amman, Jordan, pp. 1-6, 3-5 November 2015.

[6] S. Jayasudha, "Integer Wavelet Transform Based Steganography Method Using Opa Algorithm," International Journal of Engineering and Science, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 31–35, 2013.

[7] A. Al-Ataby and F. M. Al-Naima, "A Modified High Capacity Image Steganography Technique Based on Wavelet Transform," International Arab Journal of Information Technology, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 358–364, 2010.

[8] S. Banerjee, S. Chakraborty, N. Dey, A. K. Pal and R. Ray, "High Payload Watermarking Using Residue Number System," International Journal of Image, Graphics and Signal Processing, vol. 3, pp. 1-8, 2015.

[9] M. S. Al-Yaman, M. A. Al-Taee and H. Alshammas, "Audio-Watermarking Based Ownership Verification System Using Enhanced DWT-SVD Technique," in: Proc. IEEE/SSD2012 Multi-Conference on Systems, Signals and Devices, Chemnitz-Germany, pp. 1-5, 20-23 March 2012.

[10] M. S. Al-Yaman, M. A. Al-Taee, A. T. Shahrour and I. A. Al-Husseini, "Biometric Based Audio Ownership Verification Using Discrete Wavelet Transform and SVD Techniques," in: Proc. IEEE/SSD2011 Multi-Conference on Systems, Signals and Devices, Tunisia, pp. 1-5, 22-25 March 2011.

[11] N. Johnson and S. Jajodia, "Exploring Steganography: Seeing the Unseen," IEEE Computer, vol. 31, pp. 26–34, 1998.

[12] D. Wu and W. Tsai, “A Steganography Method for Images by Pixel-value Differencing," Pattern Recognition Letters, vol. 24, pp. 1613–1626, 2002.

[13] A. Hashad, A. Madani and A. Wahdan, "A Robust Steganography Technique Using Discrete Cosine Transform Insertion," in: Proc. Int. Conf. on Information and Communications Technology, Cairo, Egypt, pp. 255–264, 5-6 December 2005.

[14] P. Chen and H. Lin, "A DWT Approach for Image Steganography," International Journal of Applied Science and Engineering, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 275–290, 2006.

[15] H. S. Reddy and K. B. Raja, “High Capacity and Security Steganography Using Discrete Wavelet Transform,” International Journal of Computer Science and Security, vol. 3, no. 6, pp. 462-472, 2010.

[16] N. Dey, A. Roy and S. Dey, "A Novel Approach of Colour Image Hiding Using RGB Colour Planes and DWT," International Journal of Computer Applications, vol. 36, no. 5, pp. 19–24, 2011.

[17] T. Bhattacharya, N. Dey and S. Chaudhuri, "A Session Based Multiple Image Hiding Technique Using DWT and DCT," International Journal of Computer Applications, vol. 38, no.5, pp. 18–21, 2012.

[18] E. Ghasemi, J. Shanbehzadeh and N. Fassihi, "High Capacity Image Steganography Using Wavelet Transform and Genetic Algorithm," in: Proc. Int. Multi-Conference of Engineering and Computer Scientists (IMECS), vol. 1, Hong Kong, pp. 1–4, 16-18 March 2011.

[19] S. Laskar and K. Hemachandran, "High Capacity Data Hiding Using LSB Steganography and Encryption," International Journal of Database Management Systems, vol. 4, no. 6, pp. 57–68, 2012.

[20] P. Ganesan and P. Bhavani, "A High Secure and Robust Image Steganography Using Dual Wavelet and Blending Model," Journal of Computer Science, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 277–284, 2013.

[21]M. Parul and R. Harish, "Optimized Image Steganography Using Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT)," International Journal of Recent Development in Engineering and Technology, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 75–81, 2014.

[22] A. Nag, S. Biswas, D. Sarkar and P. Sarkar, "A Novel Technique for Image Steganography Based on DWT and Huffman Encoding," International Journal of Computer Science and Security, vol. 4, no. 6, pp. 561–570, 2011.

[23] I. Badescu and C. Dumitrescu, "Steganography in Image Using Discrete Wavelet Transformation," in: Proc. WSEAS Conf. on Advances in Mathematical Models and Production Systems in Engineering, Brasov, Romania, pp. 69-72, 26-28 June 2014.

[24] M. Sifuzzaman, M. Islam and M. Z. Ali, "Application of Wavelet Transform and Its Advantages Compared to Fourier Transform," Journal of Physical Science, vol. 13, pp. 121–134, 2009.

[25] L. Jing, K. Zhi-wei and H. Yi-gang, "A Steganography Method Based on Wavelet Contrast and LSB," Chinese Journal of Electronics, vol. 35, pp. 1391–1393, 2007.

[26] W. Shakespeare, "The Tempest," Online: http://sparks. eserver. org/books/shakespeare-tempest. pdf, last accessed 15 January 2016.