Image steganography using exploiting modification direction for compressed encrypted data

Abstract

Building a balanced relation between image quality and the payload, the robustness of the method in facing electronic attacks and securing data, all the mentioned processes represent the main challenge in steganography. Here, a novel approach to steganography is suggested using Vigenere Cipher and Huffman Coding methods to encrypt and compress the mystery message content. This approach will raise the security and ensure the message content cannot be extracted without earlier knowledge of decrypting rules and the Huffman Dictionary Table. Later, the image is segmented into blocks, size (w*h) groups for each block and with each group having n pixels. Subsequently, the knight tour algorithm and arbitrary function are utilized to select which blocks and groups can be used to conceal the mystery digit within a specific pixel in the group randomly. This is to address the weakness of the Exploiting Modification Direction (EMD) technique that uses a serial selection to enhance the robustness of the suggested scheme. The EMD technique is then utilized to insert the mystery digits inside a specific pixel. Later, the chi-square method is employed to apply statistical attacks on the stego-image to estimate the suggested scheme robustness. The empirical outcomes show that the suggested scheme is more efficient compared to the old Steganography schemes with respect to Imperceptibility by PSNR of 55.71 dB, the Payload of 52,400 bytes and the robustness.