This paper proposes two pixel value differencing (PVD) steganography techniques by considering adaptive ranges to improve the security. In the first technique, the image is partitioned into 2×2 pixel blocks in a non-overlapping fashion and scanned in raster-scan order. For every 2×2 pixel block the left-upper and bottom-right corner pixels are targetted based on their correlation with the other two pixels. Both horizontal and vertical edges are considered. In the second technique, the image is partitioned into blocks with 3×3 pixels in an overlapped fashion and scanned in raster-scan order. For a block the central pixel is targetted for embedding. Both the horizontal and vertical edges are inspected, but one of them is considered for data embedding at the target pixel. The ranges are adaptively calculated based upon the local statistics of the blocks. The first technique provides higher hiding capacity and the second technique provides higher peak signal-to-noise ratio value.
The combination of pixel value differencing (PVD) and least significant bit (LSB) substitution gives higher capacity and lesser distortion. However, there are three issues to be taken into account: (i) fall off boundary problem (FOBP), (ii) pixel difference histogram (PDH) analysis, and (iii) RS analysis. This paper proposes a steganography technique in two variants using combination of modified LSB substitution and PVD by taking care of these three issues. The first variant operates on 2 × 3 pixel blocks and the second technique operates on 3 × 3 pixel blocks. In one of the pixels of a block, embedding is performed using modified LSB substitution. Based on the new value of this pixel, difference values with other neighboring pixels are calculated. Using these differences, PVD approach is applied. The edges in multiple directions are exploited, so PDH analysis cannot detect this steganography. The LSB substitution is performed in only one pixel of the block, so RS analysis also cannot detect this steganography. To address the FOBP, suitable equations are used during embedding procedure. The experimental results such as bit rate and distortion measure are satisfactory.
To protect from pixel difference histogram (PDH) analysis and RS analysis, two hybrid image steganography techniques by appropriate combination of LSB substitution, pixel value differencing (PVD), and exploiting modification directions (EMD) have been proposed in this paper. The cover image is traversed in raster scan order and partitioned into blocks. The first technique operates on 2 × 2 pixel blocks and the second technique operates on 3 × 3 pixel blocks. For each block, the average pixel value difference, d, is calculated. If d value is greater than 15, the block is in an edge area, so a combination of LSB substitution and PVD is applied. If d value is less than or equal to 15, the block is in a smooth area, so a combination of LSB substitution and EMD is applied. Each of these two techniques exists in two variants (Type 1 and Type 2) with respect to two different range tables. The hiding capacities and PSNR of both the techniques are found to be improved. The results from experiments prove that PDH analysis and RS analysis cannot detect these proposed techniques.
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