Message Segmentation to Enhance the Security of LSB Image Steganography

Classic Least Significant Bit (LSB) steganography technique is the most used technique to hide secret information in the least significant bit of the pixels in the stego-image. This paper proposed a technique by splitting the secret message into set of segments, that have same length (number of characters), and find the best LSBs of pixels in the stego-image that are matched to each segment. The main goal of this technique is to minimize the number of LSBs that are changed when substituting them with the bits of characters in the secret message. This will lead to decrease the distortion (noise) that is occurred in the pixels of the stego-image and as result increase the immunity of the stego-image against the visual attack. The experiment shows that the proposed technique gives good enhancement to the Classic Least Significant Bit (LSB) technique. Keywords—Security; Distortion; Embedding; Substitution. I. INTRODUCTION Steganography is one of many techniques that are used to hide secret information to prevent any attackers to make damage in this information or use it in illegal form. Steganography can be defined as the technique used to embed data or other secret information inside some other object commonly referred to as cover, by changing its properties. The purpose of steganography is to set up a secret communication path between two parties such that any person in the middle cannot detect its existence; the attacker should not gain any information about the embedded data by simply looking at cover file or stego file. Steganography is the art of hiding information in ways that prevent the detection of hidden messages. Steganography, derived from Greek, literally means "covered writing." It includes a vast array of secret communications methods that conceal the message's very existence. These methods include invisible inks, microdots, character arrangement, digital signatures, covert channels, and