Nested Two-Layer RGB Based Reversible Image Steganography Method

Abstract

In this study, a new reversible image steganography method based on Red-Green-Blue (RGB) which hides thecolored image into the colored images in two layers nested is proposed. The proposed method hides the 24-bitimage to be hidden by hiding two layers of data firstly in the resized version of the cover image with the LSBmethod, and then hides the resized cover image to the original cover image with the 4-bit method. The proposedmethod offers a secure communication environment as it hides the hidden image in two layers. When thirdparties extract data by using the LSB method, they only access the resized version of the cover image. The 4-bitmethod divides the image to be hidden into 8-bit segments. While the first 4 bits, which are the most importantbits of 8-bit data, are hidden directly, 4 bits that can be neglected with less significance are completed by roundingat approximate value through the method function. In this way, since the 8-bit data is reduced to 4-bits, themethod performs lossy hiding, but doubles the hiding capacity. Peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR), structuralsimilarity quality criterion (SSIM) and chi-square steganalysis method, which are frequently used in the literature,are used to measure the immunity level of the proposed method. When it is concealed at the same ratewith the LSB method and the proposed method, a higher measurement value is obtained in the PSNR imagecriterion, which is 1.2 dB, SSIM 0.0025, BER 0.0129 and NCC image criterion 0.00027. In additional, it wasshown that the proposed method achieved more successful results in chi-square steganalysis and histogramtests compared to the traditional LSB method.