Reversible steganographic method based on interpolation by bivariate linear box-spline on the three directional mesh

• Published in: Journal of King Saud University. Computer and information sciences 2020-09, Vol.32 (7), p.850-859
• Main Authors: Benhfid, Amine, Ameur, El Bachir, Taouil, Youssef
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 00A05; 03C40; 68P20; 68P30; 94A08; Box-spline; Data hiding; Interpolation; Message Adaptive Error; Optimal Pixel Adjustment Procedure; Steganography
• ISSN: 1319-1578; 2213-1248
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jksuci.2018.09.016

Data hiding is the discipline of hiding information into digital media. A reversible steganographic method allows to extract data from the stego file as well as to retrieve the cover file. This paper proposes a reversible steganographic method based on interpolation by linear box-splines on the three directional mesh. Secret data is hidden in the error between the cover and interpolated pixels. To have better imperceptibility, we search for the nearest value to the cover pixel that can dissimulate data; this was achieved with two techniques: Optimal Pixel Adjustment Procedure and Message Adaptive Error. The proposed method is tested through experiments on a variety of images and compared to prior works. Results indicate a large capacity of hiding and good values of PSNR. The proposed work was also tested by steganalysis attacks; results show a low detectability rate. We find in the comparison that the proposed work surpasses the literature in the capacity of hiding with an equivalent level of imperceptibility.