Hiding data hiding

Abstract

Data hiding (DH) is typically referred to as the art of hiding secret data into a given media for covert communication. In this paper, we make the first step towards hiding “data hiding” (HDH), which disguises DH tools, including a data embedding tool and a data extraction tool, as a deep neural network (DNN) with a normal task. In the method, after training a DNN for style transfer and DH from scratch, while the trained DNN can transfer the style of an image to the target style, it can also hide additional data into a cover image and extract data from a stego image. In other words, the DH tools are hidden by the DNN. Experimental results have shown the feasibility, applicability and superiority.