Securing secret data by enhancing the controlling expansion method

Tohari Ahmad, Siprianus Septian Manek

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

In order to protect digital data, various methods have been applied. This includes steganography, which has been popular to use. Here, secret data are embedded in a cover medium. Some methods which have been introduced still have problems in certain factors, for example, the quality of the stego data. In this paper, we enhance the present controlling expansion method, which is variant of difference expansion and reduced difference expansion. This improvement is implemented by using an image as the cover. It is done by controlling the new pixel values, such that the difference from their original value is not greater than 2 or 4, for 0 or 1 bit secret message, respectively. In addition, the possible underflow and overflow values are eliminated. Also, different from other existing methods, in the extraction process to obtain the secret message from the stego data, we do not need a location map. The experimental result, which is performed in grayscale images, shows that the proposed method is better than existing ones. It has been able to increase around 3-4 dB of PSNR (Peak Signal to Noise Ratio) on average, for an equivalent size of secret messages.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1091-1099
Number of pages9
JournalICIC Express Letters, Part B: Applications
Volume9
Issue number11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2018
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Data hiding
  • Data protection
  • Information security
  • Network security
  • Steganography

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Securing secret data by enhancing the controlling expansion method'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this