Published in

PeerJ, PeerJ Computer Science, (9), p. e1606, 2023

DOI: 10.7717/peerj-cs.1606

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Enhanced payload volume in the least significant bits image steganography using hash function

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

Full text: Download

Red circle
Preprint: archiving forbidden
Red circle
Postprint: archiving forbidden
Green circle
Published version: archiving allowed
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

The art of message masking is called steganography. Steganography keeps communication from being seen by any other person. In the domain of information concealment within images, numerous steganographic techniques exist. Digital photos stand out as prime candidates due to their widespread availability. This study seeks to develop a secure, high-capacity communication system that ensures private interaction while safeguarding information from the broader context. This study used the four least significant bits for steganography to hide the message in a secure way using a hash function. Before steganography, the message is encrypted using one of the encryption techniques: Caesar cipher or Vigenère cipher. By altering only the least significant bits (LSBs), the changes between the original and stego images remain invisible to the human eye. The proposed method excels in secret data capacity, featuring a high peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and low mean square error (MSE). This approach offers significant payload capacity and dual-layer security (encryption and steganography).