Coverless Image Steganography Based on Optical Mark Recognition and Machine Learning

Al Hussien S Saad,Eslam H Hafez,M S Mohamed

doi:10.1109/access.2021.3050737

Al Hussien S Saad, Eslam H Hafez + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1109/access.2021.3050737

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Abstract

The most significant factor to consider during private information transmission through the internet (i.e., insecure channel) is security. So, to keep this data from unauthorized access during transmission, steganography is used. Steganography is the scheme of securing sensitive information by concealing it within carriers such as digital images, videos, audio, text, etc. Current image steganography methods work as follows; it assigns cover image then embeds the secret message within it by pixels' modifications, creating the resultant stego-image. These modifications allow steganalysis algorithms to detect the embedded secret message. So, a coverless data hiding concept is proposed to solve this problem. Coverless does not mean that the secret message will be transmitted without using a cover file, or the cover file can be discarded. Instead, the secret message will be embedded by generating a cover file or a secret message mapping. In this paper, a novel, highly robust coverless image steganography method based on optical mark recognition (OMR) and rule-based machine learning (RBML) is proposed.

Highlights

Communicating and storing sensitive and confidential information has become part of day-to-day life
In this paper, a highly robust, highly secure, and highly embedding capacity coverless image steganography method based on optical mark recognition (OMR) and rule-based machine learning (RBML) was proposed
The generated mapped bubble sheet is the answered version that is sent to the receiver

Summary

Introduction

Communicating and storing sensitive and confidential information has become part of day-to-day life. The digitalization of information and innovations in internet technologies has supported the exponential use of information transmission. Secure transmission and storage of private information have received many researchers’ attention [1]. According to a study by the ‘‘Ponemon Institute’’ and ‘‘IBM,’’ in 2015, data breach average cost was USD 3.79 million, whereas another study by ‘‘Juniper Research’’ forecasted that by 2019, cybercrimes would cost about USD 2.1 trillion [2]. Many techniques for hiding private and sensitive information in digital carriers have been developed. Hiding this information in images, text, videos, and audio is termed steganography [1]

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