Image Steganography using Least Significant Bit (LSB) - A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Digital image steganography is used to hide confidential data within a cover image. In this context, least significant bit (LSB) is a well-known steganography approach. As LSB is frequently applied for image steganography, there is a strong need to explore and summarize the state-of-the-art LSB approaches for image steganography. Therefore, this article performs a Systematic Literature Review to identify 20 research studies available during 2016–2020. This leads to the identification of 17 image steganography approaches / algorithms and 20 datasets for the evaluation of image steganography techniques. Furthermore, 3 leading frameworks / tools are presented. In addition to that, to evaluate the quality of the image steganography, 4 of the prime parameters which are frequently used have also been identified. It can be safely claimed that the image steganography quality is significantly improved through LSB via enhanced PSNR (Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio) and MSE (Mean Square Error). However, the size and secrecy of secret data is the biggest challenge while applying LSB techniques.