Nagaraj V. Dharwadkar^*

Journal of Information Hiding and Privacy Protection, Vol.7, pp. 1-31, 2025, DOI:10.32604/jihpp.2025.060898 - 27 March 2025

Abstract Steganography, the art of concealing information within innocuous mediums, has been practiced for centuries and continues to evolve with advances in digital technology. In the modern era, steganography has become an essential complementary tool to cryptography, offering an additional layer of security, stealth, and deniability in digital communications. With the rise of cyber threats such as hacking, malware, and phishing, it is crucial to adopt methods that protect the confidentiality and integrity of data. This review focuses specifically on text-in-image steganography, exploring a range of techniques, including Least Significant Bit (LSB), Pixel Value Differencing (PVD),… More >

Xiang Zhang^1,2,*, Shenyan Han^1,2, Wenbin Huang^1,2, Daoyong Fu^1,2

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.83, No.1, pp. 1149-1171, 2025, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2025.060876 - 26 March 2025

Abstract Generative image steganography is a technique that directly generates stego images from secret information. Unlike traditional methods, it theoretically resists steganalysis because there is no cover image. Currently, the existing generative image steganography methods generally have good steganography performance, but there is still potential room for enhancing both the quality of stego images and the accuracy of secret information extraction. Therefore, this paper proposes a generative image steganography algorithm based on attribute feature transformation and invertible mapping rule. Firstly, the reference image is disentangled by a content and an attribute encoder to obtain content features… More >

Kening Wang^1,#, Feipeng Gao^2,#, Jie Yang^1,2,*, Hao Zhang¹

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.82, No.3, pp. 4797-4820, 2025, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2025.060042 - 06 March 2025

Abstract With the rapid advancement of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology, speech steganography techniques such as Quantization Index Modulation (QIM) and Pitch Modulation Steganography (PMS) have emerged as significant challenges to information security. These techniques embed hidden information into speech streams, making detection increasingly difficult, particularly under conditions of low embedding rates and short speech durations. Existing steganalysis methods often struggle to balance detection accuracy and computational efficiency due to their limited ability to effectively capture both temporal and spatial features of speech signals. To address these challenges, this paper proposes an Efficient Sliding Window… More >

Jiajun Liu¹, Lina Tan^1,*, Zhili Zhou², Weijin Jiang¹, Yi Li¹, Peng Chen¹

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.81, No.2, pp. 3221-3240, 2024, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2024.054542 - 18 November 2024

Abstract Many existing coverless steganography methods establish a mapping relationship between cover images and hidden data. One issue with these methods is that as the steganographic capacity increases, the number of images stored in the database grows exponentially. This makes it challenging to build and manage a large image database. To improve the image library utilization and anti-attack capability of the steganography system, we propose an efficient coverless scheme based on dynamically matched substrings. We utilize You Only Look Once (YOLO) for selecting optimal objects and create a mapping dictionary between these objects and scrambling factors.… More >

Ahamad B. Alkodre¹, Nour Mahmoud Bahbouh², Sandra Sendra³, Adnan Ahmed Abi Sen^4,*, Yazed Alsaawy¹, Saad Said Alqahtany¹, Abdallah Namoun¹, Hani Almoamari¹

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.81, No.2, pp. 2727-2751, 2024, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2024.053706 - 18 November 2024

Abstract In Saudi Arabia, drones are increasingly used in different sensitive domains like military, health, and agriculture to name a few. Typically, drone cameras capture aerial images of objects and convert them into crucial data, alongside collecting data from distributed sensors supplemented by location data. The interception of the data sent from the drone to the station can lead to substantial threats. To address this issue, highly confidential protection methods must be employed. This paper introduces a novel steganography approach called the Shuffling Steganography Approach (SSA). SSA encompasses five fundamental stages and three proposed algorithms, designed… More >

Xiong Zhang^1,2, Minqing Zhang^1,2,3,*, Xu’an Wang^1,2,3,*, Siyuan Huang^1,2, Fuqiang Di^1,2

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.81, No.1, pp. 1433-1448, 2024, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2024.056742 - 15 October 2024

Abstract Traditional information hiding techniques achieve information hiding by modifying carrier data, which can easily leave detectable traces that may be detected by steganalysis tools. Especially in image transmission, both geometric and non-geometric attacks can cause subtle changes in the pixels of the image during transmission. To overcome these challenges, we propose a constructive robust image steganography technique based on style transformation. Unlike traditional steganography, our algorithm does not involve any direct modifications to the carrier data. In this study, we constructed a mapping dictionary by setting the correspondence between binary codes and image categories and… More >

Qianqian Zhang^1,2,3, Yi Zhang^1,2, Yuanyuan Ma³, Yanmei Liu^1,2, Xiangyang Luo^1,2,*

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.81, No.1, pp. 105-131, 2024, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2024.055735 - 15 October 2024

Abstract The rapid development of the internet and digital media has provided convenience while also posing a potential risk of steganography abuse. Identifying steganographer is essential in tracing secret information origins and preventing illicit covert communication online. Accurately discerning a steganographer from many normal users is challenging due to various factors, such as the complexity in obtaining the steganography algorithm, extracting highly separability features, and modeling the cover data. After extensive exploration, several methods have been proposed for steganographer identification. This paper presents a survey of existing studies. Firstly, we provide a concise introduction to the More >

Murad Njoum^1,2,*, Rossilawati Sulaiman¹, Zarina Shukur¹, Faizan Qamar¹

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.81, No.1, pp. 183-211, 2024, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2024.050090 - 15 October 2024

Abstract Random pixel selection is one of the image steganography methods that has achieved significant success in enhancing the robustness of hidden data. This property makes it difficult for steganalysts’ powerful data extraction tools to detect the hidden data and ensures high-quality stego image generation. However, using a seed key to generate non-repeated sequential numbers takes a long time because it requires specific mathematical equations. In addition, these numbers may cluster in certain ranges. The hidden data in these clustered pixels will reduce the image quality, which steganalysis tools can detect. Therefore, this paper proposes a… More >

Zinah Khalid Jasim Jasim^*, Sefer Kurnaz^*

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.80, No.3, pp. 4643-4662, 2024, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2024.055195 - 12 September 2024

Abstract This advanced paper presents a new approach to improving image steganography using the Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm. Image steganography, a technique of embedding hidden information in digital photographs, should ideally achieve the dual purposes of maximum data hiding and maintenance of the integrity of the cover media so that it is least suspect. The contemporary methods of steganography are at best a compromise between these two. In this paper, we present our approach, entitled Ant Colony Optimization (ACO)-Least Significant Bit (LSB), which attempts to optimize the capacity in steganographic embedding. The approach makes use… More >

Da-Chun Wu^*, Zong-Nan Shih

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.141, No.1, pp. 353-383, 2024, DOI:10.32604/cmes.2024.050813 - 20 August 2024

Abstract A new steganographic method by pixel-value differencing (PVD) using general quantization ranges of pixel pairs’ difference values is proposed. The objective of this method is to provide a data embedding technique with a range table with range widths not limited to powers of 2, extending PVD-based methods to enhance their flexibility and data-embedding rates without changing their capabilities to resist security attacks. Specifically, the conventional PVD technique partitions a grayscale image into 1 × 2 non-overlapping blocks. The entire range [0, 255] of all possible absolute values of the pixel pairs’ grayscale differences in the… More >