Dual image reversible data hiding based on modified LSB matching method

Abstract

Lu et al. proposed a dual imaging-based reversible hiding technique using LSB matching in 2015, two pixels as a group and LSB matching method is used to embed the secret message bits into two images. In order to recover the original image, seven rules are applied to modify the cover pixels. However, the method resulted in changes to pixel values increasingly and the stego image quality is affected. Therefore, in order to reduce image distortion, the proposed method uses a modified LSB matching method to embed secret message bits into dual image. The embedding only increases/decreases the cover image pixel values either by one or leaves them unmodified. Additionally the original image can be recovered from dual image. The experimental results show that the proposed method has better image quality than that of Lu et al.’s. The image hiding capacity is also a little higher than that of Lu et al.’s.