Steganography is an invisible image-hiding technique that can be used to hide proprietary information within a cover image. Protecting this information ensures that product owners can continue to innovate without the fear of their ideas being stolen or replicated by others. The study aims to minimize inaccuracies in earlier research that used discrete cosine transform (DCT) coefficients to hide images in the frequency domain. We modified the dominant DCT coefficients arrangement pattern by incorporating three new patterns and compared them with the two conventional patterns. The chosen coefficients of the hidden image are then concealed in the DCT blocks of 8 by 8 pixels in the cover image. The results show a significant improvement over earlier work. The best outcome of the five studied patterns is produced by the triangle arrangement. The newly created triangle pattern can cut the error in image reconstruction by 26.08%.
Keywords: image steganography, DCT, arrangement pattern, proprietary information
Full Paper: https://sjst.psu.ac.th/journal/46-2/10.pdf
Published in: Songklanakarin J. Sci. Technol. 46 (2), 159–168, Mar. – Apr. 2024