Run length based steganography for binary images

Abstract

Binary images (like cartoons, text documents, signatures captured by signing pads and/or 2-color imagery) are very commonly used in our daily life. Changing the pixel values in these images for hiding the data, may produce a noticeable change in the cover media. The primary problem is the capacity of the embedding technique and preserving the visible artifacts of the cover image even after embedding the secured data. In this paper, we present a run length based steganography algorithm for embedding the secured data into binary images. The proposed algorithm alters pixels of the embeddable blocks of cover image depending on there run length characteristics and chactersitics values of the block. In addition, the new algorithm is based on variable embedding rate for each block, which enhances the security of embedded data and the capacity of the embedding method. We test the performance of the algorithm over 50 various sizes of binary cover images embedding various sizes of secured data. Comparisons with existing algorithms will be presented. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.