Low bit-rate information hiding method based on search-order-coding technique

Information hiding method with low bit rate is important in secure communications. To reduce bit rate we propose a new embedding method in this paper based on SOC (search-order coding) compression technique. Compared to Chang et al.’s scheme in 2004, our scheme completely avoids the transform from SOC coding to OIV (original index values) coding to significantly reduce bit rate. In order to further reduce bit rate, Chang et al. proposed a reversible data hiding scheme using hybrid encoding strategies by introducing the side-match vector quantization (SMVQ) in 2013. But it needed additional 1 bit indicator to distinguish the two statuses to determine OIV is belonged to G1 or G2. This overhead gave a large burden to compression rate and could not reduce the bit rate significantly. In contrast, our scheme completely avoids this indicator. The experimental results show that the proposed method can efficiently reduce the bit rate and have the same embedding capacity compared with Chang et al.’s scheme in 2004 and Chang et al.’s scheme in 2013. Moreover, our proposed scheme can also achieve a better performance in both the embedding capacity and bit rate than other related VQ-based information hiding schemes.     

A comment on “Sharing secrets in stegoimages with authentication”

Recently, Chang et al.'s image secret sharing (ISS) scheme enhanced the weak authentication of two previous ISS schemes—Lin et al.'s scheme and Yang et al.'s scheme. Also, the authors claimed that the visual qualities of stegoimages were superior to the previous two schemes; however, their qualities were not really that improved. Contrarily, the qualities are significantly degraded when compared with those in Yang et al.'s scheme. This miscalculation is owing to a misunderstanding of Yang et al.'s scheme.     

A new steganographic method for color and grayscale image hiding

In this paper, we present a steganographic method for embedding a color or a grayscale image in a true color image. Three types of secret images can be carried by the proposed method: hiding a color secret image, hiding a palette-based 256-color secret image, and hiding a grayscale image in a true color image. Secret data are protected by the conventional crypto system DES. We compare the image quality and hiding capacity of the proposed method with those of the scheme in Lin et al.’s scheme. According to the experimental results, the image quality of the proposed method is better than that of the Lin et al.’s scheme. In addition, annotation data can be hidden with the secret image in the host image. The hiding capacity of the proposed method is greater than that of other compared schemes. The experimental results show that the proposed method is a secure steganographic method that provides high hiding capacity and good image quality.     

Quadruple Difference Expansion-Based Reversible Data Hiding Method for Digital Images

ABSTRACT

Lossless data hiding is a special type of data hiding technique that guarantees not only the secret data but also the ability of cover media to be reconstructed without any distortion. A latest lossless data hiding technique is proposed by Hong Lin Jin's that is based on hiding only one data bit in the spatial domain in gray-level image. However, this method uses double difference expansion to embed bits which results in a small embedding capacity. For this purpose, we propose an improved algorithm with the potential of increasing the payload capacity and maintaining good image quality. The proposed improved algorithm is characterized by two aspects. First, the proposed improved reversible data hiding scheme is enhanced to exhibit data hiding in color palette images. Second, the embedding level is improved by using quadruple difference expansion to guarantee the embedding of 2-bit data into color images. Experiments of the proposed improved method have been conducted over several well-known test images. The results show that the proposed improved method significantly improves the embedding capacity over Hong Lin Jin's scheme by the range of 15–35% for grayscale images and 20–46% for color images while still maintaining the quality of the stego-images.     

New conference key agreement protocol with user anonymity

In 2003, Yang et al. presented a conference key distribution system that was intended to provide user anonymity. Subsequently, Lin et al. pointed out a security flaw in Yang et al.'s scheme based on solving linear equations and proposed a modified scheme. Accordingly, the current paper reviews the schemes proposed by Yang et al. and Lin et al., highlights the weakness in both schemes, and then proposes a new conference key agreement scheme with user anonymity.     

Multiple predictors hiding scheme using asymmetric histograms

In recent years, many data hiding techniques have been proposed, and they can be generally classified into two types according to the reversibility of the image; these two types are reversible and irreversible data hiding. This study focused on reversible data hiding, which makes recovering the cover image possible after the secret data has been extracted. In 2013, Chen et al. proposed an asymmetric-histogram reversible data hiding method. In their scheme, two prediction error histograms (maximum and minimum error histograms) were used to embed the secret message. Two histograms were shifted in opposite directions. Hence, some stego-pixels were shifted to their original values. The complementary embedding strategy is effective. However, the predictor in the method is rough. Only neighboring pixels were used to generate the prediction errors, thereby resulting in poor prediction efficiency. To enhance the prediction efficiency, this paper combines several well-known predictors such as gradient adjusted gap (GAP), median edge detect, and interpolation by neighboring pixel (INP) to generate prediction errors. Different predictors along with the asymmetric-histogram method can achieve better results. The predictor GAP used more neighboring pixels to obtain the prediction value; therefore, it is suitable for complex images. However, the predictor INP only considers that closer pixels can achieve great results for smooth images. Hence, the proposed scheme combines GAP and asymmetric histogram for complex images. However, the predictor INP along with asymmetric histogram is used for smooth images. Experimental results showed that the PSNR value of the proposed method is greater than that of the asymmetric-histogram shifting method and other recent approaches.     

面向索引图的大容量信息隐藏方法

嵌入容量是衡量信息隐藏方法的重要指标之一。为了提高嵌入容量,提出一种面向矢量量化索引图邻块编码的信息隐藏改进算法,利用当前块的四邻块的空间相对位置关系和邻块与当前块索引差值的数值范围进行信息隐藏。实验结果表明,改进后的算法能够显著提高嵌入容量,在比特率仅增加5.13%13.10%的情况下可将嵌入容量提高到Chang方法容量的2.113.16倍,嵌入效率由原来平均0.10提高到了0.26。     

基于条件可逆网络的生成式图像隐写算法

近年来,随着生成模型的广泛使用,生成式隐写领域得到了快速发展。生成式隐写是在图像合成过程中隐藏信息的技术。它无需真实图像参与,只需秘密消息驱动生成模型即可合成载密图像。然而,现有方法无法控制生成的图像内容,因此不能保证隐蔽通信行为的安全性。针对上述问题,本文提出了基于条件可逆网络(Conditional Invertible Neural Network,cINN)的生成式图像隐写术steg-Cinn。在本文中,我们将信息隐藏建模为图像着色问题,并将秘密信息嵌入到灰度图像的颜色信息中。首先,我们使用映射模块将二进制秘密信息转换为服从标准正态分布的隐变量。而后,我们以灰度图像作为先验来指导着色过程,使用条件可逆网络来将隐变量映射为颜色信息。其中steg-Cinn生成的彩色图像匹配灰度图像的语义内容,从而保证了隐蔽通信的行为安全。对比实验结果表明,本文方法能够控制生成的图像内容并且使得合成颜色真实自然,在视觉隐蔽性方面表现良好。在统计安全性方面,本文方法的隐写分析检测正确率为56.28%,说明它能够抵御隐写分析检测。此外,本文方法在比特消息提取方面可以实现100%正确提取,这种情况下的隐藏容量是2.00 bpp。因此,与现有方法相比,本文方法在图像质量、统计安全性、比特提取正确率和隐藏容量方面取得了良好的综合性能表现。迄今为止,本文方法是在图像隐写术中首次使用cINN的工作。考虑到任何信息都可以转换为二进制形式,我们可以在图像中隐藏任意类型的数据,因此本文方法在现实世界里也具备实用价值。     

A local variance-controlled reversible data hiding method using prediction and histogram-shifting

The stego image quality produced by the histogram-shifting based reversible data hiding technique is high; however, it often suffers from lower embedding capacity compared to other types of reversible data hiding techniques. In 2009, Tsai et al. solved this problem by exploiting the similarity of neighboring pixels to construct a histogram of prediction errors; data embedding is done by shifting the error histogram. However, Tsai et al.’s method does not fully exploit the correlation of the neighboring pixels. In this paper, a set of basic pixels is employed to improve the prediction accuracy, thereby increasing the payload. To further improve the image quality, a threshold is used to select only low-variance blocks to join the embedding process. According to the experimental results, the proposed method provides a better or comparable stego image quality than Tsai et al.’s method and other existing reversible data hiding methods under the same payload.     

High capacity reversible data hiding scheme based upon discrete cosine transformation

In this paper, we propose a reversible data hiding scheme based on the varieties of coefficients of discrete cosine transformation of an image. Cover images are decomposed into several different frequencies, and the high-frequency parts are embedded with secret data. We use integer mapping to implement our 2-dimensional discrete cosine transformation. Thus, the image recovered from the modified coefficients can be transformed back to the correct data-hidden coefficients. Since the distribution of 2-dimensional DCT coefficients looks close to Gaussian distribution centralized at zero, it is a natural candidate for embedding secret data using the histogram shifting approach. Thus, our approach shifts the positive coefficients around zero to the right and the negative coefficients around zero to the left in order to leave a space to hide the secret data. The experimental comparisons show that, compared to Chang et al. and Lin et al.'s method, the embedding capacity and quality of the stego-image of the proposed method is a great improvement.     

An encoding method for both image compression and data lossless information hiding

Reversible image data hiding technology means the cover image can be totally recovered after the embedded secret data is extracted. In this paper, we propose a reversible image data hiding scheme based on vector quantization (VQ) compressed images. The secret bits are embedded into the VQ index table by modifying the index value according to the difference of neighboring indices. The data hiding capacity and the size of the final codestream (embedded result) are a trade-off, and it can be decided by users. In other words, the proposed scheme has flexible hiding capacity ability. To estimate the performance, the proposed scheme was compared with the scheme proposed by Wang and Lu (2009). The results of the comparison showed that our proposed scheme is superior to the scheme proposed by Wang and Lu in both data hiding capacity and bit rate.     

Huffman-code strategies to improve MFCVQ-based reversible data hiding for VQ indexes

Data hiding, which embeds secret data into cover media, is one type of technology used to achieve the multimedia security. A reversible data hiding method has the characteristic that the cover media can be completely reconstructed after secret data are extracted. Recently, some reversible data hiding schemes have focused on the vector quantization (VQ)-compressed format. Using the modified fast correlation vector quantization (MFCVQ) concept, Lu et al. proposed a reversible data hiding scheme for VQ-index tables. In this paper, a new MFCVQ-based scheme is proposed. Specifically, our method will enlarge the embedding capacities by embedding multiple bits into a VQ index, thereby reducing the compressed bit rates by applying the Huffman-code concept and the 0-centered classification. Experimental results indicate that this method has greater pure embedding capacities and fewer compressed bit rates than that of previous MFCVQ-based methods.     

Data hiding based on compressed VQ indices of images

The VQ-based data hiding technique has not received much attention compared to various spatial domain-based data hiding techniques in digital images. Consequently, a new data hiding scheme, applied in the VQ-compressed domain of cover images, is introduced in this article. To provide more hiding capacity for secret data and to keep an acceptable bit rate for the compressed cover images, the search-order-coding (SOC) algorithm was implemented to compress the VQ indices of the cover images in the process of data hiding. During the process of data hiding, the proposed scheme embeds secret data into the compressed VQ indices of the cover image adaptively, adjusting the bit rate according to the size of the secret data and the compressed cover image. In addition, the hiding process induces no extra coding distortion. Experiments show that the receiver can efficiently receive both the secret data and the compressed cover image simultaneously with an acceptable bit rate. Simulation results also demonstrate that our proposed scheme outperforms earlier proposed methods.     

减少相邻位平面间冗余度的加密图像可逆信息隐藏

目的 针对现有的加密域可逆信息隐藏算法在对位平面压缩时未能充分利用位平面间的相关性的问题,为了降低位平面的压缩率从而提高嵌入容量,提出一种减少相邻位平面间冗余度的加密域可逆信息隐藏算法。方法 算法将图像进行分块并将块的位置进行置乱,置乱并未改变位平面的块内像素的相关性,使得位平面的块同样利于压缩。将块置乱后的图像的高位平面与次高位进行异或操作后得到新的次高位平面,再用新的次高位异或比它低一位的位平面。依次对其余的低位平面进行同样的操作后得到新的低7个位平面,将它们与原始最高位相结合得到新的图像的8个位平面。使用BBE（binary-block embeding）算法对新的图像的位平面进行压缩为嵌入信息腾出空间。为了保证加密图像的安全性,对腾出空间后的图像进行异或加密。结果 对相邻位平面进行异或后使除了最高位平面外的低位平面更平滑,减少了不能使用BBE算法压缩的块及压缩的不好的块的个数,更有利于用BBE算法对图像进行压缩。提出的算法与现有的基于位平面压缩的算法相比得到了较高的嵌入率,对不同纹理的图像而言,嵌入的容量平均提高了0.4 bit/像素。结论 实验结果表明,提出的算法在保证安全性的同时可以腾出更多的空间来嵌入额外的信息,在实际生活中能根据需求灵活地嵌入信息。嵌入的信息能无损地提取,且图像能完全恢复。总的来说,提出的算法具有良好的性能。     

Separable data hiding in encrypted image based on compressive sensing and discrete fourier transform

Reversible data hiding in encrypted images has become an effective and popular way to preserve the security and privacy of users’ personal images. Recently, Xiao et al. firstly presented reversible data hiding in encrypted images with use of the modern signal processing technique compressive sensing (CS). However, the quality of decrypted image is not great enough. In this paper, a new method of separable data hiding in encrypted images are proposed by using CS and discrete fourier transform, which takes full advantage of both real and imaginary coefficients for ensuring great recovery and providing flexible payload. Compared with the original work, the proposed method can obtain better image quality when concealing the same embedding capacity. Furthermore, image decryption and data extraction are separable in the proposed method, and the secret data can be extracted relatively accurately.     

An efficient dual prediction–based reversible data hiding and reduced code method for AMBTC

Due to the popularity of smartphones, laptops and wireless communication technologies, compressed images have become widely used for such applications, because a smaller storage space is needed. Protecting the security of information transmission over the Internet while reducing file size (also called the size of the final coding stream) has become a critical issue. Three related works have proposed using the reversible data hiding (RDH) method on AMBTC-compressed images to reduce the final stego-coding stream. However, these approaches still have room for improvement. To further optimize the performance of the related works, in this paper, we present an efficient dual prediction–based reversible data hiding and reduced code method for AMBTC-compressed images that uses three significant techniques: the dual prediction strategy (DP), the reversible standardized parameters (RSP) and the improved error division technique (IED). We can thus embed more secret data while effectively reducing the length of the final coding stream. Experimental results show that the proposed method has both the lowest true bitrate and the highest embedding efficiency in broader usage scenarios when compared to other related methods.

     

A high-capacity reversible data hiding scheme based on sorting and prediction in digital images

In this paper, a new reversible data hiding method based on sorting and prediction in digital images is proposed. The proposed method can embed two bits in the 3 × 1 sub-block at maximum by dividing into two groups - min and max groups. The pixel pairs of the min group and max group are firstly predicted and then are modified to embed the secret bits. The reversibility is guaranteed since the order of pixel pairs of the sub-block is not changed after embedding a secret bit into two groups. The experimental results show that the proposed method provides high embedding capacity than the previous works.     

Reversible data hiding scheme with edge-direction predictor and modulo operation

Since the first histogram shifting technique was proposed by Ni et al., many histogram based data hiding methods were proposed to improve their scheme. One of the methods is using difference value between cover image and prediction image. Another method is using two point pairs and absolute value for improving Ni et al.’s scheme. In this paper, novel reversible data hiding scheme with edge-direction predictor and modulo operation was proposed for improving histogram shifting technique with 3 cases. We considered as much as possible around pixels by using edge-direction predictor with odd and even line embedding Also, we utilize two point pairs and absolute value at the same time by using modulo operation with wrap around. In the experimental results, the proposed scheme shown a good quality image result about 48dB as similar as other schemes and enhanced hiding capacity over 50 % than other schemes.     

Adaptive real-time reversible data hiding for JPEG images

Data hiding used to embed data, such as copyright information, into various forms of media such as image, audio, or text with a minimum amount of perceivable degradation to the “host” signal. Therefore, in many cases, the cover media contain distortions even after the hidden data have been extracted. Thus, to extend the application of data hiding to some sensitive domains such as military, medical, and fine arts, which require the embedded cover images to be properly covered, reversible data hiding has become another new branch of this field. Our proposed scheme is inspired by Chang et al.’s idea. In this paper, we propose adaptive real-time reversible data hiding for JPEG images using successive zero coefficients in zigzag sequences of discrete cosine transformation blocks. The contribution of our proposed scheme successfully enhances the hiding capacity while the image quality of stego image and reversibility are maintained. The result of experiments conducted indicates that the proposed scheme enhances data hiding capacity, image quality, and improves performance.     

A more efficient and secure ID-based remote mutual authentication with key agreement scheme for mobile devices on elliptic curve cryptosystem

Recently, Yang and Chang proposed an identity-based remote login scheme using elliptic curve cryptography for the users of mobile devices. We have analyzed the security aspects of the Yang and Chang's scheme and identified some security flaws. Also two improvements of the Yang and Chang's scheme have been proposed recently, however, it has been found that the schemes have similar security flaws as in the Yang and Chang's scheme. In order to remove the security pitfalls of the Yang and Chang and the subsequent schemes, we proposed an enhanced remote user mutual authentication scheme that uses elliptic curve cryptography and identity-based cryptosystem with three-way challenge-response handshake technique. It supports flawless mutual authentication of participants, agreement of session key and the leaked key revocation capability. In addition, the proposed scheme possesses low power consumption, low computation cost and better security attributes. As a result, the proposed scheme seems to be more practical and suitable for mobile users for secure Internet banking, online shopping, online voting, etc.