Security System for Safe Transmission of Medical Images

This paper develops an optimised embedding of payload in medical images by using genetic optimisation. The goal is to preserve the region of interest from being distorted because of the watermark. By using this system there is no need to manually define the region of interest by experts as the system will apply the genetic optimisation to select the parts of image that can carry the watermark guaranteeing less distortion. The experimental results assure that genetic based optimisation is useful for performing steganography with less mean square error percentage

Security and imperceptibility improving of image steganography using pixel allocation and random function techniques

Information security is one of the main aspects of processes and methodologies in the technical age of information and communication. The security of information should be a key priority in the secret exchange of information between two parties. In order to ensure the security of information, there are some strategies that are used, and they include steganography and cryptography. An effective digital image-steganographic method based on odd/even pixel allocation and random function to increase the security and imperceptibility has been improved. This lately developed outline has been verified for increasing the security and imperceptibility to determine the existent problems. Huffman coding has been used to modify secret data prior embedding stage; this modified equivalent secret data that prevent the secret data from attackers to increase the secret data capacities. The main objective of our scheme is to boost the peak-signal-to-noise-ratio (PSNR) of the stego cover and stop against any attack. The size of the secret data also increases. The results confirm good PSNR values in addition of these findings confirmed the proposed method eligibility

Enhancing The Performance Of Digital Image Data Hiding Using Reduced Difference Expansion Technique And Constant Base Point

The last few decades have been marked by a rapid growth and significant enhancement of the internet infrastructures, i.e., the internet has become a broad network enabling many enterprises around the world to interact while sharing multimedia data. Nevertheless, this technology has brought many challenges related to securing private and sensitive information which has led to the application of cryptography technique as a mean for securing data by encrypting them. However, since the encrypted data can be seen by active and sophisticated intruders during the transmission, this may lead to its suspicion which can result in unauthorized access. Thereby, data hiding (which is also called information hiding) is another technique for securing commutation via the public network. Data hiding is one of the best and most challenging fields dealing with securing organizational sensitive information due to many factors such as identity theft, information phishing, user privacy, network policy violation, contents and copyright protection. It is performed by utilizing some carriers to conceal private information which is further extracted later to verify and validate the genuineness. Digital steganography has been recognized among the recent and most popular data hiding techniques. Steganography is the practice of concealing confidential information in the codes that make up the digital files. Such digital files can be an image, audio, video, and text. Different from cryptography, however, steganography provides security by disguising the presence of communication. It originates from the concept that if the communication is visible, the suspicion or attack is obvious. Hence, the main goal is to always disguise the presence of the hidden confidential data. Recently, various data iv hiding methods based on digital image steganography have been already suggested by several researchers around the globe. The main goal was to improve the security, embedding capacity and the quality of the stego image. However, research have shown that there is still a challenge to achieve a good visual quality of the stego media while preserving a good embedding capacity. In this direction, this study aims at proposing a new data hiding approach that enhances the quality of the stego image and the embedding capacity. That is, the suggested approach enhances the existing data hiding methods by utilizing pixel block, constant base point for each pixel block and the reduced difference expansion scheme (RDE-scheme) for grayscale digital images. Accordingly, the suggested enhancement is detailed as follows. First, the existing reduced difference expansion scheme (RDE-scheme) for reducing the difference values is enhanced in order to get possible small values to be used while concealing the secret data into the cover image. The main objective behind this enhancement is to allow data to be concealed while preserving the quality of the stego image. Notice that the suggested RDE-scheme does not only enhance the quality but also it solves the problem of underflow and overflow. The underflow is encountered when the pixel value in the stego image is below 0 (Pixel value < 0) while the overflow occurs when it is greater than 255 (Pixel value > 255). Second, the new constant base point for each pixel block is chosen differently for the sake of increasing the visual quality of the stego image. Third, we have adjusted the size of the pixel block which achieves a high embedding capacity while distorting the cover media from quad of quad (4 × 4 ) to quad, block of size 2 by 2 (2 × 2). Besides, the effect of varying the size of the secret data with respect to the quality of the stego image is also investigated throughout this study. Overall, based on the experimental results, good visual quality of the stego image which is evaluated by measuring the peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and good embedding capacity (measured in bits) are yielded compared to the previous approach, i.e., the proposed method is effective in terms of maintaining both visual quality of the stego image and the embedding capacity. Index terms— Data hiding, information security, reduced difference expansion, digital steganography, cover image, stego image, confidential data =================================================================================================== Beberapa dekade terakhir internet telah menjadi jaringan luas yang memungkinkan banyak perusahaan di seluruh dunia untuk berinteraksi sambil berbagi data multimedia. Ini merupakan tanda bahwa infrastruktur internet telah tumbuh dan berkembang secara signifikan. Namun, teknologi ini memiliki banyak tantangan dalam hal pengamanan informasi yang bersifat sensitif dan pribadi sehingga mendorong penerapan teknik kriptografi untuk mengamankan data dengan cara mengenkripsinya. Teknik kriptografi memiliki kekurangan yaitu hasil enkripsi dapat dilihat oleh penyusup (intruders) selama transmisi sehingga menyebabkan kecurigaan yang berakibat pada tindakan akses yang bersifat ilegal. Untuk mengurangi hal ini, data hiding dapat dimanfaatkan untuk mengamankan informasi tersebut. Data hiding adalah salah satu teknik terbaik untuk mendapatkan data tetapi memiliki banyak tantangan permasalahan seperti pencurian identitas, phising, pelanggaran kebijakan jaringan dan hak cipta. Untuk mendapatkan kemanan data, data hiding memanfaatkan beberapa media untuk menyembunyikan informasi dan dapat diekstrak untuk memverifikasi keasliannya. Salah satu teknik data hiding yang paling terkenal adalah steganografi digital. Teknik ini menyembunyikan informasi rahasia kedalam file digital seperti citra digital, audio, video dan teks. Berbeda dengan kriptografi, steganografi memberikan keamanan informasi dengan menyamarkannya dalam file digital. Penyebab digunakannya tindakan ini adalah jika komunikasi terlihat maka akan mengundang kecurigaan yang mengakibatkan terjadi serangan seperti yang dijelaskan sebelumnya. Oleh karena itu, tujuan utama dari teknik ini adalah menyamarkan informasi rahasia dengan vi menyembunyikannya kedalam file yang digunakan. Akhir-akhir ini, beberapa teknik data hiding dengan menggunakan citra digital telah banyak dikembangkan oleh beberapa peneliti di seluruh dunia. Tujuan utama mereka adalah untuk meningkatkan keamanan, kapasitas penyisipan dan kualitas dari citra stego. Sampai saat ini, banyak penelitian yang menunjukkan bahwa masih menjadi tantangan untuk mendapatkan kualitas media stego yang baik dengan kapasitas penyisipan yang tinggi. Dengan maksud yang sama, penelitian ini mengusulkan konsep pendekatan baru dalam hal data hiding yang dapat meningkatkan kualitas dan kapasitas dari citra stego. Pendekatan tersebut dilakukan dengan cara meningkatkan metode data hiding yang sudah ada dengan memanfaatkan blok piksel, penentuan base point yang konsisten untuk masing-masing blok dan mereduksi difference expansion untuk citra abu-abu. Rincian dari pendekatan tersebut adalah sebagai berikut. Pertama, skema reduksi difference expansion (RDE) ditingkatkan untuk mendapatkan nilai terkecil yang akan digunakan dalam penyembunyian data kedalam citra carrier. Tujuannya adalah memungkinkan data dapat disisipkan dengan tetap menjaga kualitas citra stego tetap baik. Perlu diketahui bahwa usulan skema RDE tidak hanya meningkatkan kualitas tetapi juga menyelesaikan masalah overflow dan underflow. Underfow merupakan kondisi piksel dalam citra stego bernilai kurang dari 0 sedangkan overflow terjadi ketika nilai piksel melebihi 255. Kedua, base-point yang bersifat konstan untuk masing-masing blok piksel akan dipilih secara berbeda untuk dapat meningkatkan kualitas visual dari citra stego. Ketiga, kami mengatur ukuran blok dari quad of quad (4x4) yang memiliki kualitas citra stego kurang baik menjadi 2x2. Hal lain yang kami lakukan adalah mengetahui efek dari besar ukuran data yang digunakan dalam proses penyisipan. Secara keseluruhan, berdasarkan hasil eksperimen, usulan pendekatan ini memiliki kemampuan yang lebih baik dibandingkan dengan penelitian sebelumnya yang ditandai dengan kapasitas penyisipan yang lebih tinggi dan kualitas visual citra stego yang baik yang diukur menggunakan metode signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR)

Multi-Stage Protection Using Pixel Selection Technique for Enhancing Steganography

Steganography and data security are extremely important for all organizations. This research introduces a novel stenographic method called multi-stage protection using the pixel selection technique (MPPST). MPPST is developed based on the features of the pixel and analysis technique to extract the pixel's characteristics and distribution of cover-image. A pixel selection technique is proposed for hiding secret messages using the feature selection method. The secret file is distributed and embedded randomly into the stego-image to make the process of the steganalysis complicated.  The attackers not only need to deter which pixel values have been selected to carry the secret file, they also must rearrange the correct sequence of pixels. MPPST generates a complex key that indicates where the encrypted elements of the binary sequence of a secret file are. The analysis stage undergoes four stages, which are the calculation of the peak signal-to-noise ratio, mean squared error, histogram analysis, and relative entropy. These four stages are used to demonstrate the characteristics of the cover image. To evaluate the proposed method, MPPST is compared to the standard technique of Least Significant Bit (LSB) and other algorithms from the literature. The experimental results show that MPPST outperforms other algorithms for all instances and achieves a significant security enhancement

Pengembangan Metode Quad Smoothness Reduced Difference Expansion Untuk Steganography Pada Audio

Steganography adalah salah satu bagian dari teknik penyembunyian data. Tujuan utama dari steganography adalah untuk menjaga orang lain agar tidak mengetahui informasi rahasia yang disembunyikan. Banyak penelitian yang telah dilakukan dalam bidang ini, khususnya steganography dengan media citra digital. Pada penelitian ini akan dilakukan penyembunyian data pada audio. Berkas audio yang akan digunakan adalah berkas audio dengan format WAV. Berkas audio tersebut memiliki panjang sampel 8-bit dan merupakan berkas audio mono atau single channel. Data yang disembunyikan pada audio merupakan berkas pesan tersembunyi berbentuk teks. Metode-metode yang diimplementasikan untuk penyembunyian data pada audio adalah general reduced difference expansion, quad-based general rde, block overlap general rde, dan quad smoothness general rde.Dari hasil analisa uji coba didapatkan bahwa pemilihan coveraudio berpengaruh pada nilai PSNR stegoaudio. Panjang coveraudio tidak berpengaruh pada kapasitas penyisipan pesan tersembunyi. GRDE dan Quad-RDE memiliki kapasitas penyimpanan lebih besar dari metode lainnya. Metode RDE adalah metode yang memiliki hasil PSNR yang lebih besar dari metode lainnya

An improved image steganography scheme based on distinction grade value and secret message encryption

Steganography is an emerging and greatly demanding technique for secure information communication over the internet using a secret cover object. It can be used for a wide range of applications such as safe circulation of secret data in intelligence, industry, health care, habitat, online voting, mobile banking and military. Commonly, digital images are used as covers for the steganography owing to their redundancy in the representation, making them hidden to the intruders, hackers, adversaries, unauthorized users. Still, any steganography system launched over the Internet can be cracked upon recognizing the stego cover. Thus, the undetectability that involves data imperceptibility or concealment and security is the significant trait of any steganography system. Presently, the design and development of an effective image steganography system are facing several challenges including low capacity, poor robustness and imperceptibility. To surmount such limitations, it is important to improve the capacity and security of the steganography system while maintaining a high signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR). Based on these factors, this study is aimed to design and develop a distinction grade value (DGV) method to effectively embed the secret data into a cover image for achieving a robust steganography scheme. The design and implementation of the proposed scheme involved three phases. First, a new encryption method called the shuffle the segments of secret message (SSSM) was incorporated with an enhanced Huffman compression algorithm to improve the text security and payload capacity of the scheme. Second, the Fibonacci-based image transformation decomposition method was used to extend the pixel's bit from 8 to 12 for improving the robustness of the scheme. Third, an improved embedding method was utilized by integrating a random block/pixel selection with the DGV and implicit secret key generation for enhancing the imperceptibility of the scheme. The performance of the proposed scheme was assessed experimentally to determine the imperceptibility, security, robustness and capacity. The standard USC-SIPI images dataset were used as the benchmarking for the performance evaluation and comparison of the proposed scheme with the previous works. The resistance of the proposed scheme was tested against the statistical, X2 , Histogram and non-structural steganalysis detection attacks. The obtained PSNR values revealed the accomplishment of higher imperceptibility and security by the proposed DGV scheme while a higher capacity compared to previous works. In short, the proposed steganography scheme outperformed the commercially available data hiding schemes, thereby resolved the existing issues

Triple scheme based on image steganography to improve imperceptibility and security

A foremost priority in the information technology and communication era is achieving an effective and secure steganography scheme when considering information hiding. Commonly, the digital images are used as the cover for the steganography owing to their redundancy in the representation, making them hidden to the intruders. Nevertheless, any steganography system launched over the internet can be attacked upon recognizing the stego cover. Presently, the design and development of an effective image steganography system are facing several challenging issues including the low capacity, poor security, and imperceptibility. Towards overcoming the aforementioned issues, a new decomposition scheme was proposed for image steganography with a new approach known as a Triple Number Approach (TNA). In this study, three main stages were used to achieve objectives and overcome the issues of image steganography, beginning with image and text preparation, followed by embedding and culminating in extraction. Finally, the evaluation stage employed several evaluations in order to benchmark the results. Different contributions were presented with this study. The first contribution was a Triple Text Coding Method (TTCM), which was related to the preparation of secret messages prior to the embedding process. The second contribution was a Triple Embedding Method (TEM), which was related to the embedding process. The third contribution was related to security criteria which were based on a new partitioning of an image known as the Image Partitioning Method (IPM). The IPM proposed a random pixel selection, based on image partitioning into three phases with three iterations of the Hénon Map function. An enhanced Huffman coding algorithm was utilized to compress the secret message before TTCM process. A standard dataset from the Signal and Image Processing Institute (SIPI) containing color and grayscale images with 512 x 512 pixels were utilised in this study. Different parameters were used to test the performance of the proposed scheme based on security and imperceptibility (image quality). In image quality, four important measurements that were used are Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR), Structural Similarity Index (SSIM), Mean Square Error (MSE) and Histogram analysis. Whereas, two security measurements that were used are Human Visual System (HVS) and Chi-square (X2) attacks. In terms of PSNR and SSIM, the Lena grayscale image obtained results were 78.09 and 1 dB, respectively. Meanwhile, the HVS and X2 attacks obtained high results when compared to the existing scheme in the literature. Based on the findings, the proposed scheme give evidence to increase capacity, imperceptibility, and security to overcome existing issues

Computational intelligence-based steganalysis comparison for RCM-DWT and PVA-MOD methods

This research article proposes data hiding technique for improving the data hiding procedure and securing the data transmission with the help of contrast mapping technique along with advanced data encryption standard. High data hiding capacity, image quality and security are the measures of steganography. Of these three measures, number of bits that can be hidden in a single cover pixel, bits per pixel (bpp), is very important and many researchers are working to improve the bpp. We propose an improved high capacity data hiding method that maintains the acceptable image quality that is more than 30 dB and improves the embedding capacity higher than that of the methods proposed in recent years. The method proposed in this paper uses notational system and achieves higher embedding rate of 4 bpp and also maintain the good visual quality. To measure the efficiency of the proposed information hiding methodology, a simulation system was developed with some of impairments caused by a communication system. PSNR (Peak Signal to Noise ratio) is used to verify the robustness of the images. The proposed research work is verified in accordance to noise analysis. To evaluate the defencing performance during attack RS steganalysis is used

State-of-the-art Survey of Data Hiding in ECG Signal

With the development of new communication technologies, the number of biomedical data that is transmitted is constantly increasing. This is sensitive data and therefore it is very important to preserve privacy when transmitting it. For this purpose, techniques for data hiding in biomedical signals are used. This is a comprehensive survey of research papers that covers the latest techniques for data hiding in ECG signal and old techniques that are not covered by the latest surveys. We show an overview of the methodology, robustness, and imperceptibility of the techniques