Hybrid image embedding technique using Steganographic Signcryption and IWT-GWO methods

Abstract

Image Steganography is the process of hiding information, which can be text, image or video inside a cover image. Recent steganography research hasn't addressed the problem of loss of secret information during extraction. Hence, to reduce information loss, the Integer Wavelet Transform (IWT) is used in this paper, and encryption algorithms are used to secure the secret image. The cover image is first converted into frequency domain using IWT, and then the best pixel positions of the cover image are selected using the Gray Wolf Optimization (GWO) algorithm to embed the secret image. The secret image is encrypted using the signcryption algorithm before being embedded into the cover image, which generates the stego image. In order to extract the secret image from the stego image, the inverse of IWT and unsigncryption methods were used. This method is implemented in the MATLAB working platform, and the results are analysed to demonstrate the system's effectiveness. From the results, one can infer that the proposed technique improved the PSNR by 2.5%, and error has been reduced by greater extent as compared to the existing methods.