Reversible Data Hiding Technique Research Articles

Fortifying Patient Data Security in the Digital Era: A Two-Layer Approach with Data Hiding and Electrocardiogram

In an era dominated by digital technology, the imperative of securing patient data cannot be overstated. The deployment of advanced protective measures, including encryption, firewalls, and robust authentication protocols, is an absolute necessity when it comes to preserving the confidentiality and integrity of sensitive patient information. Furthermore, the establishment of stringent access controls serves as a fundamental safeguard, ensuring that only authorized personnel are granted access to this invaluable data. An innovative development in the realm of patient data protection is the utilization of ElectroCardioGram (ECG) as a unique identifier for individuals. In the context of this study, ECG data is ingeniously embedded within cover images using a technique known as Reversible Data Hiding (RDH). RDH offers a distinctive advantage by ensuring that the original image can be fully restored without loss of data after extraction. This achievement is made possible through the application of inventive pixel interpolation and histogram shifting algorithms. Crucially, the study's simulations, conducted across a diverse array of images, underscore the enhanced embedding capacity of the RDH technique while maintaining a commendable balance in terms of the Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) and boundary map. This empirical evidence corroborates the efficacy of the approach and its potential to provide an advanced level of security for patient data in the digital landscape.

Optimized reversible data hiding technique based on multidirectional prediction error histogram and fluctuation-based adaptation

Optimized reversible data hiding technique based on multidirectional prediction error histogram and fluctuation-based adaptation

A Multistage High Capacity Reversible Data Hiding Technique Without Overhead Communication

Reversible Data Hiding(RDH) has been extensively investigated, recently, due to its numerous applications in the field of defence, medical, law enforcement and image authentication. However, most of RDH techniques suffer from low secret data hiding capacity and communication overhead. For this, multistage high-capacity reversible data hiding technique without overhead is proposed in this manuscript. Proposed reversible data hiding approach exploits histogram peaks for embedding the secret data along with overhead bits both in plain and encrypted domain. First, marked image is obtained by embedding secret data in the plain domain which is further processed using affine cipher maintaining correlation among the pixels. In second stage, overhead bits are embedded in the encrypted marked image. High embedding capacity is achieved through exploiting histogram peak for embedding multiple bits of secret data. Proposed approach is experimentally validated on different datasets and results are compared with the state-of-the-art techniques over different images.

A one-time-pad-like chaotic image encryption scheme using data steganography

One-time-pad-like image ciphers using chaos and hash functions have achieved outstanding performance in terms of security strength and efficiency, but they fail to consider the problem of hash value distribution, limiting their practical application significantly. Moreover, most existing algorithms are designed based on independent permutation and sequential diffusion operations, which may lead them to end up being broken by chosen-plaintext attacks. In this paper, we propose a one-time-pad-like chaotic image cipher using data steganography. The whole scheme consists of an encryption process for the plain-image and an embedding process for the encrypted image. Different from the permutation–diffusion type image ciphers, we remove the permutation stage and use only a plaintext-dependent non-sequential diffusion operation. The encryption algorithm exploits the security potential of the encryption order and can achieve a satisfactory level of security with only once scanning of the entire image. During the embedding process, a reversible data-hiding technique is adopted to embed the hash value of the plain-image into the cipher-image so that it can be transmitted together to the receiver, overcoming the practical limitation encountered by the existing one-time-pad-like ciphers. Experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithm is secure against all common attacks and outperforms state-of-the-art approaches in terms of both security and efficiency.

Adaptive 3D Reversible Data Hiding Technique Based on the Cumulative Peak Bins in the Histogram of Directional Prediction Error

Reversible data hiding (RDH) is crucial in modern data security, ensuring confidentiality and tamper-proofness in various industries like copyright protection, medical imaging, and digital forensics. As technology advances, RDH techniques become essential, but the trade-off between embedding capacity and visual quality must be heeded. In this paper, the relative correlation between the pixel’s local complexity and its directional prediction error is employed to enhance an efficient RDH without using a location map. An embedding process based on multiple cumulative peak region localization (MCPRL) is proposed to hide information in the 3D-directional prediction error histogram with a lower local complexity value and avoid the underflow/overflow problems. The carrier image is divided into three color channels, and then each channel is split into two non-overlapping sets: blank and shadow. Two half-directional prediction errors (the blank set and the shadow set) are constructed to generate a full-directional prediction error for each color channel belonging to the host image. The local complexity value and directional prediction error are critical metrics in the proposed embedding process to improve security and robustness. By utilizing these metrics to construct a 3D stego-Blank Set, the 3D stego-shadow Set will be subsequently constructed using the 3D blank set. The proposed technique outperforms other state-of-the-art techniques in terms of embedding capacity, image quality, and robustness against attacks without an extra location map. The experimental results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method for various 3D RDH techniques.

Robust RDH Technique using Sorting and IPVO-based Pairwise PEE for Secure Communication

Nowadays, Reversible Data Hiding (RDH) is used extensively in information sensitive communication domains to protect the integrity of hidden data and the cover medium. However, most of the recently proposed RDH methods lack robustness. Robust RDH methods are required to protect the hidden data from security attacks at the time of communication between the sender and receiver. In this paper, we propose a Robust RDH scheme using IPVO based pairwise embedding. The proposed scheme is designed to prevent unintentional modifications caused to the secret data by JPEG compression. The cover image is decomposed into two planes namely HSB plane and LSB plane. As JPEG compression most likely modifies the LSBs of the cover image during compression, it is best not to hide the secret data into LSB planes. So, the proposed method utilizes a pairwise embedding to embed secret data into HSB plane of the cover image. High fidelity improved pixel value ordering (IPVO) based pairwise embedding ensures that the embedding performance of the proposed method is improved.

Applying GMEI-GAN to Generate Meaningful Encrypted Images in Reversible Data Hiding Techniques

With the rapid development of information technology, the transmission of information has become convenient. In order to prevent the leakage of information, information security should be valued. Therefore, the data hiding technique has become a popular solution. The reversible data hiding technique (RDH) in particular uses symmetric encoding and decoding algorithms to embed the data into the cover carrier. Not only can the secret data be transmitted without being detected and retrieved completely, but the cover carrier also can be recovered without distortion. Moreover, the encryption technique can protect the carrier and the hidden data. However, the encrypted carrier is a form of ciphertext, which has a strong probability to attract the attention of potential attackers. Thus, this paper uses the generative adversarial networks (GAN) to generate meaningful encrypted images for RDH. A four-stage network architecture is designed for the experiment, including the hiding network, the encryption/decryption network, the extractor, and the recovery network. In the hiding network, the secret data are embedded into the cover image through residual learning. In the encryption/decryption network, the cover image is encrypted into a meaningful image, called the marked image, through GMEI-GAN, and then the marked image is restored to the decrypted image via the same architecture. In the extractor, 100% of the secret data are extracted through the residual learning framework, same as the hiding network. Lastly, in the recovery network, the cover image is reconstructed with the decrypted image and the retrieved secret data through the convolutional neural network. The experimental results show that using the PSNR/SSIM as the criteria, the stego image reaches 45.09 dB/0.9936 and the marked image achieves 38.57 dB/0.9654. The proposed method not only increases the embedding capacity but also maintains high image quality in the stego images and marked images.

A Comprehensive Study of Reversible Data Hiding (RDH) Schemes Based on Pixel Value Ordering (PVO)

Reversible data hiding (RDH) plays a significant role in the field of information security which allows safe transmission of secret data inside a cover media. Additionally, RDH allows extraction of secret data and lossless recovery of the cover media at the decoding end which makes it applicable for the applications like medical imaging and military services. In recent years, variety of RDH techniques such as lossless compression, histogram shifting, difference expansion, prediction error expansion and pixel value ordering (PVO) have been proposed. Among all of them, PVO is one of the most researched RDH techniques as it provides high-fidelity images with decent data hiding capacity. So, to thoroughly understand the evolution of PVO based RDH schemes along with their advantages and disadvantages, this paper presents a comprehensive study of all the existing PVO based RDH schemes with an aim to provide research guidance to the researchers who are interested to work in the field of PVO based reversible data hiding. For this, the working of PVO based schemes is discussed and explained by using suitable examples. Additionally, the challenges being faced by reversible data hiding technique for increasing the data hiding capacity along with image quality, are comprehensively presented. Furthermore, comparative analysis of different PVO-based RDH scheme (after categorizing them based on their working style) using two key parameters—embedding capacity and marked image quality, is presented.

High capacity reversible and secured data hiding in images using interpolation and difference expansion technique

Data hiding is a noteworthy research topic in digital technology for years. Reversible data hiding (RDH) technique plays a vital role for confirming security of the digital transmissions. A new 2-layer secure, high capacity reversible data hiding technique has been proposed, using the concept of interpolation based data hiding and difference expansion method. Unlike, state-of-the art interpolation based RDH techniques, the security has been enhanced in the proposed technique by concealing the data into the image pixels in non-sequential manner. This technique offers high-capacity data hiding, by considering the maximum difference between neighboring pixels without compromising on quality of the images. It can embed up to 3.19 bpp in Baboon image which is better than the other existing state-of-the art interpolation based RDH (IRDH) techniques. The proposed technique is sustainable against the series of tests provided by standard StirMark Benchmark 4.0 analysis. It withstands the steganalysis attacks, viz., StegExpose as a measure of security.

Pixel Value Ordering Based Reversible Data Hiding with Novel MPBS Strategy

Recently, Reversible Data Hiding (RDH) techniques has gained much attention in many sensitive fields such as remote sensing, archive management, military and medical image processing systems. This is due to the lossless data extraction ability of RDH schemes. The primary goal of RDH schemes is to achieve high embedding rates while maintaining the quality of cover objects. For achieving better performance, Pixel Value Ordering (PVO) based reversible data hiding schemes have been proposed. PVO refers to the process of ranking the pixels in blocks and then modifying the pixels according to some embedding rules/conditions. So far, the existing PVO techniques have considered neighborhood pixels at unit distance. In this paper, an improved RDH using block based PVO scheme is proposed which exploits the pixel correlation efficiently by increasing the block size and applying a novel Median Pixel based Block Selection Strategy (MPBS). When block size is increased, the ordering of pixels is changed after embedding. So, to extract the secret data in a lossless manner, the secret bits are swapped in accordance with their corresponding Stego pixels’ index order. Also, the overflow and underflow conditions are effectively handled using Location Map. Experimental results show the better performance of the proposed RDH technique with the existing technique.

Reversible Data Hiding Technique using Novel Interpolation Technique and Discrete Cosine Transform

The application of internet has expanded colossally in recent years. Subsequently, security of data has turned out to be a quite important factor to focus. It is likewise discernible that over the internet, data can be controlled, cautioned or compromised. To overcome these issues numerous methodologies are proposed. These methods depend on some type of mechanism, where data is encoded and with the help of a key message and using the key it can be recovered the receiver. In pictures, reversible data hiding (RDH) is a strategy which is exceptionally useful in regaining original cover after the embedded message is separated. This key strategy is comprehensively utilized as a piece of medical imagery, law crime scene investigation and military symbolism, where no distortion of the cover is allowed. Because of being reversible, RDH has pulled in great research interest. This paper discusses an improvement in RDH technique while also considering DCT based compression technique for further improvements. Simulation has been carried out to evaluate the performance in terms of Peak-to-Signal Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Structural Similarity Index (SSIM). It has been found that our proposed method performs better than earlier methods.

Improved K-Pass Pixel Value Ordering Based Data Hiding

K-pass pixel value ordering (PVO) is an effective reversible data hiding (RDH) technique. In k-pass PVO, the complexity measurement may lead to a weak estimation result because the unaltered pixels in a block are excluded to estimate block complexity. In addition, the prediction-error is computed without considering the location relationship of the second largest and largest pixels or the second smallest and smallest pixels. To this end, an improved RDH technique is proposed in this paper to enhance the embedding performance. The improvement mainly lies in the following two aspects. First, some pixels in a block, which are excluded from data hiding in some existing RDH methods, are exploited together with the neighborhood surrounding this block to increase the estimation accuracy of local complexity. Second, the remaining pixels in a block, i.e., three largest and three smallest pixels are involved in data embedding. Taking three largest pixels for example, when the difference between the largest and third largest pixels is relatively large (e.g., > 1), we improve k-pass PVO by considering the location relationship of the second largest and largest pixels. The advantage of doing this is that the difference valued 3 between the maximum and the second largest pixel which is shifted in k-pass PVO, is able to carry 1 bit data in our method. In other words, a larger amount of pixels are able to carry data bits in our scheme compared with k-pass PVO. Abundant experimental results reveal that the proposed method achieves preferable embedding performance compared with the previous work, especially when a larger payload is required.

High capacity reversible data hiding using 2D parabolic interpolation

Reversible data hiding (RDH) plays a key role in ensuring security of communications. Recent studies have revealed that RDH techniques based on interpolation are gaining popularity because of the ease of implementation and support for high embedding capacity. From recent literature, it is noted that the one-dimensional (1D) parabolic interpolation-based data hiding technique is suitable for high embedding capacity applications. This study aims to implement a high capacity RDH technique using a new two-dimensional (2D) parabolic interpolation and a novel embedding technique that is suitable for interpolation-based techniques. The results of this study showed that the proposed 2D parabolic interpolation maximized the utilization of the cover image pixels in up-sampling. The technique produced interpolated images of a higher quality compared to the 1D parabolic interpolation technique. Moreover, the proposed data hiding technique exploited the local redundancy and obtained the high embedding capacity with an appreciable image quality better than other state-of-the-art techniques. The results of this study support the view that the proposed parabolic interpolation has the potential to address security issues in high embedding capacity applications.

An enhancing reversible data hiding for secured data using shuffle block key encryption and histogram bit shifting in cloud environment

Nowadays there are numerous intruders trying to get the privacy information from cloud resources and consequently need a high security to secure our data. Moreover, research concerns have various security standards to secure the data using data hiding. In order to maintain the privacy and security in the cloud and big data processing, the recent crypto policy domain combines key policy encryption with reversible data hiding (RDH) techniques. However in this approach, the data is directly embedded resulting in errors during data extraction and image recovery due to reserve leakage of data. Hence, a novel shuffle block key encryption with RDH technique is proposed to hide the data competently. RDH is applied to encrypted images by which the data and the protection image can be appropriately recovered with histogram bit shifting algorithm. The hidden data can be embedded with shuffle key in the form of text with the image. The proposed method generates the room space to hide data with random shuffle after encrypting image using the definite encryption key. The data hider reversibly hides the data, whether text or image using data hiding key with histogram shifted values. If the requestor has both the embedding and encryption keys, can excerpt the secret data and effortlessly extract the original image using the spread source decoding. The proposed technique overcomes the data loss errors competently with two seed keys and also the projected shuffle state RDH procedure used in histogram shifting enhances security hidden policy. The results show that the proposed method outperforms the existing approaches by effectively recovering the hidden data and cover image without any errors, also scales well for large amount of data.

An improved LSB-based RDH technique with better reversibility

Lossless image recovery has significant importance in image transmission and security. In this aspect, lots of reversible data hiding (RDH) techniques are available as literature. Still ample measures can be adhered to achieve better reversibility. This paper presents an improved reversible RDH technique to perform a quantitative study to evaluate the recovery of sent image without any distortion. In reversible data hiding, the original image has to go through the encryption and embedding process before transmitting to the receiver. In the proposed RDH technique, a series of computations are done on the three LSB to embed secret bits in the encrypted image. Similarly, the reverse computations are performed on the LSBs to extract the original image content from the decrypted image. Experimental analysis proves the achievement of the proposed technique through different parameters like, PSNR, SSIM, etc.

An improved LSB-based RDH technique with better reversibility

Lossless image recovery has significant importance in image transmission and security. In this aspect, lots of reversible data hiding (RDH) techniques are available as literature. Still ample measures can be adhered to achieve better reversibility. This paper presents an improved reversible RDH technique to perform a quantitative study to evaluate the recovery of sent image without any distortion. In reversible data hiding, the original image has to go through the encryption and embedding process before transmitting to the receiver. In the proposed RDH technique, a series of computations are done on the three LSB to embed secret bits in the encrypted image. Similarly, the reverse computations are performed on the LSBs to extract the original image content from the decrypted image. Experimental analysis proves the achievement of the proposed technique through different parameters like, PSNR, SSIM, etc.

Improved dual-image reversible data hiding method using the selection strategy of shiftable pixels' coordinates with minimum distortion

Compared to conventional reversible data hiding (RDH) methods, the dual-image RDH technique is an effective way to achieve greater embedding rate and better quality of the stego images. Motivated by the center folding-based, dual-image RDH method proposed by Lu et al. (SIGNAL PROCESSING, 115 (2015) 195–213), we propose an improved dual-image RDH method by using the selection strategy of shiftable pixels' coordinates with minimum distortion. Although the stego dual-pixel in the center folding-based method is shifted with minimum distortion, there is another shiftable pixel-coordinate that can be used without creating any extra distortion. Based on this observation, the embedding rate can be improved without any deterioration of visual quality by embedding an extra message bit into each newfound alternative pixel-coordinate. In addition, the range of parameter k, which controls the embedding rate, in our method is extended to greater than or equal to 1, therefore, a higher visual quality can be achieved when k is set at 1. The experimental results showed that the embedding rate of our method is greater than that of the center folding-based method for the same stego image quality, and our method outperforms other methods, whether in term of average PSNR or embedding rate.

Histogram shifting in encrypted images with public key cryptosystem for reversible data hiding

Histogram shifting is an effective reversible data hiding (RDH) approach in processing digital images. When the host image is encrypted for privacy protection in some open environments including the cloud, RDH has to be processed in the encrypted domain accordingly. However, the performance of the existing RDH schemes in encrypted images is generally not satisfactory due to the fact that signal processing in encrypted domain is a challenging problem. In this paper, an effective RDH technique in encrypted images is proposed. Specifically, the histogram of the image is first expanded by applying the homomorphic multiplication in the encrypted domain based on the public key cryptosystem, and the histogram shifting is achieved by using the homomorphic addition in the encrypted domain in order to embed the additional data into the host images. The embedded additional data can be extracted accurately, and the host images can be recovered perfectly. Extensive experiment results are illustrated that the data embedding rate is up to 1 bit per pixel (bpp) or even 1016bpp regardless of the different pixel distributions of natural images. The performance of the proposed RDH approach is largely improved in encrypted images, which shows the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Reversible data hiding scheme for color image based on prediction-error expansion and cross-channel correlation

In this paper, we present a reversible data hiding (RDH) algorithm for color image. The traditional RDH technique regarding color image embeds data into each color channel independently. Considering that the color channels correlate with each other, we propose a RDH algorithm based on prediction-error expansion that can enhance the prediction accuracy in one color channel through exploiting the edge information from another channel. By doing so, the entropy of the prediction-error is decreased statistically, and consequently, the algorithm efficiency is increased in terms of data hiding rate versus embedding distortion. Extensive experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm outperforms the traditional RDH methods independently embedding data into each channel.

Security protection of DICOM medical images using dual-layer reversible watermarking with tamper detection capability.

Teleradiology applications and universal availability of patient records using web-based technology are rapidly gaining importance. Consequently, digital medical image security has become an important issue when images and their pertinent patient information are transmitted across public networks, such as the Internet. Health mandates such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act require healthcare providers to adhere to security measures in order to protect sensitive patient information. This paper presents a fully reversible, dual-layer watermarking scheme with tamper detection capability for medical images. The scheme utilizes concepts of public-key cryptography and reversible data-hiding technique. The scheme was tested using medical images in DICOM format. The results show that the scheme is able to ensure image authenticity and integrity, and to locate tampered regions in the images.