Steganalysis of LSB Greedy Embedding Algorithm for JPEG Images using Coefficient Symmetry

Abstract

A recently developed LSB greedy embedding algorithm for JPEG images is capable of resisting the chi-square attack. By carefully studying the quantized DCT (discrete cosine transform) coefficients of the cover and stego images, we find that the embedding algorithm does not preserve the histogram of the DCT coefficients well. In this paper, we define a new chi-square statistic which is used to measure whether the image under scrutiny is like the cover or the stego. Our proposed steganalytic method is based on the symmetry property of the DCT coefficients in JPEG images. It can also be used in the scenario where the cover images are double JPEG compressed. The reliability of this specific steganalytic scheme depends on the embedding rate and it is influenced by the JPEG quality factor. Experimental results show that when the embedding rate exceeds half of the maximal embedding capacity, the steganographic algorithm is detectable with a very low false negative rate, whatever the quality factor is.