The pair-wise LSB matching steganography with a discrete quantum behaved Gravitational Search Algorithm

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Soleimanpour-Moghadam, Mohadeseh | Nezamabadi-pour, Hossein^*

Affiliations: Department of Electrical Engineering, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author. Hossein Nezamabadi-Pour, Department of Electrical Engineering, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran. Tel.: +98 34 31322510; E-mail: nezam@uk.ac.ir.

Abstract: This paper presents a discrete quantum behaved gravitational search algorithm (DQGSA) which is used to provide a novel steganographic algorithm based on the spatial domain: Least Significant Bits (LSB). This approach improves the LSB matching method proposed by Mielikaien. Whereas Mielikaien’s method uses a binary function to reduce the number of changed pixel values, in suggested method a three-score system is proposed to assess the performance of different orders for LSB matching. Afterward, the proposed DQGSA is employed to search for an optimal solution among all the permutation orders. By employing the proposed method, the distortion of the stegano image could be reduced while the probability of detection is decreased. The experimental results show that the proposed method achieves better performance than Mielikainen’s pair-wise LSB matching method in less distortion (means higher visual quality) and more preservation against steganalysis.

Keywords: Information hiding, least significant bit (LSB) matching, quantum gravitational search algorithm (QGSA), steganography

DOI: 10.3233/IFS-151863

Journal: Journal of Intelligent & Fuzzy Systems, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 1547-1556, 2016