Information hiding with adaptive steganography based on novel fuzzy edge identification

Abstract The evolution in communication techniques has created wide threats for crucial information transfer through a communication channel. Covert communication with steganography is a skill of concealing secret information within cover object and hence shields the data theft over rapidly growing network. Recently, diverse steganography techniques using edge identification have been proposed in literature. Numerous methods however utilize certain pixels in the cover image for inserting edge information, resulting in significant deformation. The conventional edge detection method limits the deployment of edge detection in steganography as concealing the information would introduce some variations to the cover image. Hence inserting data in pixel areas recognized by existing conventional edge detection techniques like canny cannot ensure the recognition of the exact edge locations for the cover and stego images. In this paper, an Adaptive steganography method based on novel fuzzy edge identification is proposed. The method proposed is proficient of estimating the precise edge areas of a cover image and also ensures the exact edge location after embedding the secret message. Experimental results reveal that the technique has attained good imperceptibility compared to the Hayat Al-Dmour and Ahmed Al-Ani Edge XOR method in spatial domain.