A secure image steganography algorithm based on least significant bit and integer wavelet transform

doi:10.21629/JSEE.2018.03.21

Journal of Systems Engineering and Electronics ›› 2018, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (3): 639-649.doi: 10.21629/JSEE.2018.03.21

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A secure image steganography algorithm based on least significant bit and integer wavelet transform

Emad ELSHAZLY¹(), Safey ABDELWAHAB^1,*(), Refaat ABOUZAID¹(), Osama ZAHRAN²(), Sayed ELARABY¹(), Mohamed ELKORDY²()

¹ Engineering Department, Nuclear Research Center, Atomic Energy Authority, Cairo 11787, Egypt
² Electronics and Electrical Communications Engineering Department, Faculty of Electronic Engineering, Menoufia University, Menouf 32952, Egypt

Received:2016-10-26 Online:2018-06-28 Published:2018-07-02
Contact: Safey ABDELWAHAB E-mail:eaeshazly@yahoo.com;safeyash@hotmail.com;eng_refaat@yahoo.com;osama_zahran@menofia.edu.eg;selaraby@netscape.net;dr_elkordy@hotmail.com
About author:ELSHAZLY Emad received his B.S. (Honors) degree in electronics and communications engineering from Faculty of Electronic Engineering, Menoufia University in 2004. He received his M.S. degree in electronics and communications engineering from Faculty of Electronic Engineering, Menoufia University in 2012. His current areas of interest are digital signal processing, digital image processing, data hiding, developing ICT-based materials, design of FPGA based instruments and radiation measurement instruments. E-mail: eaeshazly@yahoo.com|ABDELWAHAB Safey received his B.S. degree in electronics and communications from Engineering Faculty, Cairo University in 1992. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in systems & computers engineering from Engineering Faculty, Al-Azhar University in 1998, 2003 respectively. His interests are digital image and digital signal processing, fuzzy logic, design of microcontroller based instruments, design of radiation measurement instruments, software programming for interfacing and data acquisition, embedded systems, developing ICTbased materials, and design of FPGA based instruments. E-mail: safeyash@hotmail.com|ABOUZAID Refaat received his B.S. degree in computers and automatic control from Engineering Faculty, Tanta University in 2001. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in industrial electronics and control engineering from Electronic Engineering Faculty, Menoufia University in 2008 and 2014 respectively. His interests are intelligent control, design of microcontroller based instruments, design of radiation measurement instruments, software programming for interfacing and data acquisition, embedded systems, software programmer for databases such as SQL server, ACCESS, and software languages such as C#, VB6, developing ICT-based materials, computers troubleshooting, machine learning and deep learning algorithms. E-mail: eng_refaat@yahoo.com|ZAHRAN Osama received his B.S. (Honors) degree from Faculty of Electronic Engineering, Menofia University, Egypt, in 1997, and Ph.D. degree from Liverpool University, UK, in 2006. He joined the teaching staff of the Department of Electronics and Electrical Communications Engineering, Faculty of Electronic Engineering, Menoufia University, Egypt, in 2006. He is a co-author of about 170 papers in national and international conference proceedings and journals. His current research areas of interest include image enhancement, data hiding, multimedia communications, medical image processing, and non-destructive testing applications. E-mail: osama_zahran@menofia.edu.eg|ELARABY Sayed received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Communication Section, Ein Shams University, Egypt, in 1976, 1984 and 1993 respectively. He is a co-author of about 60 papers in national and international conference proceedings and journals. He is currently an emeritus professor. His last post was Chairman of the Board – Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority. His areas of interests are signal processing, image processing and control. E-mail: selaraby@netscape.net|ELKORDY Mohamed received his B.S. (Honors) M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Faculty of Electronic Engineering, Menoufia University, Menouf, Egypt, in 1979, 1985 and 1991 respectively. He joined the teaching staff of the Department of Electronics and Electrical Communiations, Faculty of Electronic Engineering, Menoufia University, Menouf, Egypt, in 1991. He is currently an emeritus professor. His current research areas of interest include SAW applications, data hiding, radiation applications, image processing and signal processing. E-mail: dr_elkordy@hotmail.com

Abstract

Abstract:

The rapid development of data communication in modern era demands secure exchange of information. Steganography is an established method for hiding secret data from an unauthorized access into a cover object in such a way that it is invisible to human eyes. The cover object can be image, text, audio, or video. This paper proposes a secure steganography algorithm that hides a bitstream of the secret text into the least significant bits (LSBs) of the approximation coefficients of the integer wavelet transform (IWT) of grayscale images as well as each component of color images to form stego-images. The embedding and extracting phases of the proposed steganography algorithms are performed using the MATLAB software. Invisibility, payload capacity, and security in terms of peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) and robustness are the key challenges to steganography. The statistical distortion between the cover images and the stego-images is measured by using the mean square error (MSE) and the PSNR, while the degree of closeness between them is evaluated using the normalized cross correlation (NCC). The experimental results show that, the proposed algorithms can hide the secret text with a large payload capacity with a high level of security and a higher invisibility. Furthermore, the proposed technique is computationally efficient and better results for both PSNR and NCC are achieved compared with the previous algorithms.

Key words: image steganography, image processing, integer wavelet transform

Emad ELSHAZLY, Safey ABDELWAHAB, Refaat ABOUZAID, Osama ZAHRAN, Sayed ELARABY, Mohamed ELKORDY. A secure image steganography algorithm based on least significant bit and integer wavelet transform[J]. Journal of Systems Engineering and Electronics, 2018, 29(3): 639-649.

Figures/Tables 10

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Grayscale image(512×512)	LSB			DWT-LSB			Proposed
Grayscale image(512×512)	MSE	PSNR	NCC	MSE	PSNR	NCC	MSE	PSNR	NCC
Lena	0.27	53.45	0.99	1.09	47.42	1.00	0.27	53.46	0.99
Barbara	0.27	53.64	1.00	1.08	47.61	1.00	0.27	53.65	1.00
Sailboat	0.28	53.66	0.99	1.09	47.77	1.00	0.27	53.78	0.99
Airplane	0.27	52.91	0.99	1.09	46.86	1.00	0.27	52.91	0.99
House	0.27	53.07	0.99	1.10	47.01	1.00	0.27	53.05	0.99

Embeddingtechnique	Evaluationparemeter	Grayscale image (512×512)
Embeddingtechnique	Evaluationparemeter	Lena	Barbara	Sailboat	Airplane	House
IWT-LSB-1	MSE	0.270 5	0.269 7	0.272 3	0.270 6	0.273 8
	PSNR	53.462 3	53.650 7	53.780 4	52.912 0	53.046 7
	NCC	0.999 9	1.000 0	0.999 9	0.999 9	0.999 9
IWT-LSB-2	MSE	1.084 8	1.081 4	1.081 9	1.086 9	1.106 0
	PSNR	47.429 7	47.618 8	47.760 2	46.872 6	46.984 0
	NCC	0.999 6	0.999 8	0.999 5	0.999 5	0.999 6
IWT-LSB-3	MSE	4.331 8	4.304 0	4.376 0	4.247 1	4.522 2
	PSNR	41.416 7	41.620 0	41.720 0	40.953 7	40.867 8
	NCC	0.998 3	0.999 2	0.998 2	0.998 1	0.998 8
IWT-LSB-4	MSE	17.334 0	16.910 7	17.604 1	17.915 0	17.663 1
	PSNR	35.394 3	35.677 2	35.674 7	34.702 4	34.950 7
	NCC	0.993 1	0.996 9	0.992 8	0.992 2	0.993 2

Grayscale image(512×512)	LSB			DWT-LSB			Proposed
Grayscale image(512×512)	MSE	PSNR	NCC	MSE	PSNR	NCC	MSE	PSNR	NCC
Lena	0.18	55.49	1.00	0.18	55.56	1.00	0.18	55.52	1.00
Baboon	0.18	55.54	1.00	0.18	55.55	1.00	0.18	55.56	1.00
Pepper	0.17	55.18	1.00	0.18	55.18	1.00	0.17	55.20	55.20
Airplane	0.18	54.84	1.00	0.18	54.80	1.00	0.18	54.80	1.00
House	0.18	55.56	1.00	0.18	55.60	1.00	0.18	55.55	1.00
Tiffany	0.19	55.41	1.00	0.18	55.52	1.00	0.32	53.06	1.00

Embeddingtechnique	Evaluationparemeter	Grayscale image (512×512)
Embeddingtechnique	Evaluationparemeter	Lena	Baboon	Pepper	Airplane	House	Tiffany
IWT-LSB-1	MSE	0.182 5	0.180 7	0.169 5	0.181 4	0.181 2	0.321 4
	PSNR	55.517 7	55.562 2	55.203 1	54.798 4	55.550 0	53.060 1
	NCC	0.999 9	0.999 9	0.999 9	0.999 9	0.999 9	0.999 7
IWT-LSB-2	MSE	0.720 3	0.723 5	0.679 1	0.722 4	0.732 9	0.885 4
	PSNR	49.555 9	49.536 6	49.175 7	48.796 8	49.480 6	48.659 3
	NCC	0.999 6	0.099 98	0.999 8	0.999 6	0.999 8	0.999 1
IWT-LSB-3	MSE	2.884 6	2.903 8	2.698 0	2.848 8	2.865 0	3.123 8
	PSNR	43.529 9	43.501 1	43.184 6	42.837 6	43.559 6	43.184 0
	NCC	0.998 4	0.999 1	0.999 1	0.998 2	0.999 1	0.996 6
IWT-LSB-4	MSE	11.816 5	11.521 4	10.549 2	11.716 5	10.826 8	12.127 0
	PSNR	37.405 9	37.515 8	37.262 8	36.696 4	37.785 8	37.293 3
	NCC	0.993 6	0.996 3	0.996 3	0.993 0	0.996 4	0.996 9

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A secure image steganography algorithm based on least significant bit and integer wavelet transform

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