Lightweight Encryption Assisted Man-in-The-Middle Attack-Resilient Steganography Model for Secure Satellite Imagery Services: LEMARS

Abstract

The role of communication technologies has become increasingly vital in various fields such as industrial communication, surveillance and monitoring, healthcare, and data communication, leading to a surge in demand for these technologies in recent years. In this research paper, the LEMARS model is proposed as a novel and robust lightweight encryption assisted Man-in-The-Middle (MITM) attack-resilient steganography model for secure satellite imagery services. The proposed solution combines lightweight encryption and attack-resilient embedding to achieve higher attack-resilience with low computational cost and optimal reconstruction quality. The use of Feistel architecture-driven substitution and permutation-based block-cipher encryption and heuristic-driven pixel adjustment method for MITM-Adaptive B-Channel Embedding results in higher imperceptibility and superior attack-resilience under uncertain channels. The strategic amalgamation of FSPN-BCE, L2D-IWT, and HD-OMABE enabled attack-resilient steganography for secure satellite communication. The performance of LEMARS has been evaluated using Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR), entropy, Non-Parametric Change Rate (NPCR), Unified Average Change Intensity (UACI), and regular and singular block pattern changes. LEMARS achieved a PSNR value of 58.02 dB, an entropy value of 6.15 dB, an NPCR value of 99.84%, a UACI value of 33.70, and exhibited minimal block pattern changes. These results indicate that the proposed model achieved higher attack-resilience with low computational cost and optimal reconstruction quality. The research aimed to improve encryption and embedding methods to achieve an MITM-attack resilient embedding solution for secure satellite imagery services. The proposed LEMARS model exhibited superiority over other state-of-the-art methods, affirming the robustness of the proposed LEMARS model for real-time multimedia data security purposes, including remote sensing, satellite imagery services, telemedicine, and EHR. In conclusion, the LEMARS model offers an optimal solution for multimedia data security, combining lightweight encryption and attack-resilient embedding to achieve higher attack-resilience with low computational cost and optimal reconstruction quality.