Robust and secure image steganographic algorithm based on matrix embedding

Steganography is a sub-discipline of data hiding with an objective to modify a digital object, known as cover object, to encode and conceal a message so that it cannot be seen while it is transmitted on public communication channels such as computer network. The main requirements of steganography system are imperceptibility, high payload, security and robustness against transmission channel noise. The proposed work presented in this paper consist of a robust (non-fragile) steganography technique based on the matrix embedding using a self-synchronising variable length T-codes (to obtain compressed message from the original message) and RS codes (as error correction coding to provide robustness to the embedded message against transmission errors). The original message is first encoded using T-codes and then with RS-codes. The selection of the plane for embedding is made on the basis of variance of intensity resolutions. The secret message is then embedded in the selected 2nd, 3rd or 4th plane of the cover image using the matrix encoding technique. The proposed method is compared with other existing steganographic schemes based on error correcting codes. Experimental results show that the proposed method is an improvement over the existing methods.