JPEG steganography with particle swarm optimization accelerated by AVX

Digital steganography aims at hiding secret messages in digital data transmitted over insecure channels. The JPEG format is prevalent in digital communication, and images are often used as cover objects in digital steganography. Optimization methods can improve the properties of images with embedded secret but introduce additional computational complexity to their processing. AVX instructions available in modern CPUs are, in this work, used to accelerate data parallel operations that are part of image steganography with advanced optimizations.Web of Science328art. no. e544

A Detection Method for Text Steganalysis Using Evolution Algorithm (EA) Approach

The ability of sending a secret message through a network nowadays has become a more challenging and complex process. One of the reasons why we need tools to detect the hidden message is because of security and safety. Secret messages can be both for good or bad, and subversive groups have been known to send secret messages to coordinate their terrorist activities. Thus,a technique such as steganalysis is one method example to detect a secret message. Much of the technical steganalysis work had been carried out on image, video, and audio steganalysis, but in any agency or organisation, all business documents generally uses the natural language in text form or document form. Therefore, this research employed a detection factor based on the evolution algorithm method for text steganalysis. The aim of this project was to detect a hidden message in an observed message using text steganalysis

SocialStegDisc: Application of steganography in social networks to create a file system

The concept named SocialStegDisc was introduced as an application of the original idea of StegHash method. This new kind of mass-storage was characterized by unlimited space. The design also attempted to improve the operation of StegHash by trade-off between memory requirements and computation time. Applying the mechanism of linked list provided the set of operations on files: creation, reading, deletion and modification. Features, limitations and opportunities were discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Chaotic Sequence based Steganography for Pair-Wise Communication

Steganography is the art and science of hiding sensitive data inside an image. There are so many cryptosystems that use Steganography as a major tool. Also in recent years there is a rising trend towards chaotic sequence based cryptosystems. This paper attempts to combine the two with a new algorithm for data hiding. Here key images required for Steganography are generated using chaotic sequence. Also an attempt is made to overcome the limitations of Steganography on the file size ratio and the security offered by Steganography

Covert Channels Within IRC

The exploration of advanced information hiding techniques is important to understand and defend against illicit data extractions over networks. Many techniques have been developed to covertly transmit data over networks, each differing in their capabilities, methods, and levels of complexity. This research introduces a new class of information hiding techniques for use over Internet Relay Chat (IRC), called the Variable Advanced Network IRC Stealth Handler (VANISH) system. Three methods for concealing information are developed under this framework to suit the needs of an attacker. These methods are referred to as the Throughput, Stealth, and Baseline scenarios. Each is designed for a specific purpose: to maximize channel capacity, minimize shape-based detectability, or provide a baseline for comparison using established techniques applied to IRC. The effectiveness of these scenarios is empirically tested using public IRC servers in Chicago, Illinois and Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Throughput method exfiltrates covert data at nearly 800 bits per second (bps) compared to 18 bps with the Baseline method and 0.13 bps for the Stealth method. The Stealth method uses Reed-Solomon forward error correction to reduce bit errors from 3.1% to nearly 0% with minimal additional overhead. The Stealth method also successfully evades shape-based detection tests but is vulnerable to regularity-based tests

Secure digital documents using Steganography and QR Code

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University LondonWith the increasing use of the Internet several problems have arisen regarding the processing of electronic documents. These include content filtering, content retrieval/search. Moreover, document security has taken a centre stage including copyright protection, broadcast monitoring etc. There is an acute need of an effective tool which can find the identity, location and the time when the document was created so that it can be determined whether or not the contents of the document were tampered with after creation. Owing the sensitivity of the large amounts of data which is processed on a daily basis, verifying the authenticity and integrity of a document is more important now than it ever was. Unsurprisingly document authenticity verification has become the centre of attention in the world of research. Consequently, this research is concerned with creating a tool which deals with the above problem. This research proposes the use of a Quick Response Code as a message carrier for Text Key-print. The Text Key-print is a novel method which employs the basic element of the language (i.e. Characters of the alphabet) in order to achieve authenticity of electronic documents through the transformation of its physical structure into a logical structured relationship. The resultant dimensional matrix is then converted into a binary stream and encapsulated with a serial number or URL inside a Quick response Code (QR code) to form a digital fingerprint mark. For hiding a QR code, two image steganography techniques were developed based upon the spatial and the transform domains. In the spatial domain, three methods were proposed and implemented based on the least significant bit insertion technique and the use of pseudorandom number generator to scatter the message into a set of arbitrary pixels. These methods utilise the three colour channels in the images based on the RGB model based in order to embed one, two or three bits per the eight bit channel which results in three different hiding capacities. The second technique is an adaptive approach in transforming domain where a threshold value is calculated under a predefined location for embedding in order to identify the embedding strength of the embedding technique. The quality of the generated stego images was evaluated using both objective (PSNR) and Subjective (DSCQS) methods to ensure the reliability of our proposed methods. The experimental results revealed that PSNR is not a strong indicator of the perceived stego image quality, but not a bad interpreter also of the actual quality of stego images. Since the visual difference between the cover and the stego image must be absolutely imperceptible to the human visual system, it was logically convenient to ask human observers with different qualifications and experience in the field of image processing to evaluate the perceived quality of the cover and the stego image. Thus, the subjective responses were analysed using statistical measurements to describe the distribution of the scores given by the assessors. Thus, the proposed scheme presents an alternative approach to protect digital documents rather than the traditional techniques of digital signature and watermarking

Fitness value based evolution algorithm approach for text steganalysis model

In this paper, we present a new alternative method for text steganalysis based on an evolution algorithm, implemented using the Java Evolution Algorithms Package (JEAP).The main objective of this paper is to detect the existence of hidden messages ased on fitness values of a text description.It is found that the detection performance has been influenced by two groups of fitness values which are good fitness value and bad fitness value. This paper provides a valuable insight into the development and enhancement of the text steganalysis domain