A robust steganography algorithm based on texture similarity using Gabor filter

Abstract

The main concern of steganography (image hiding) methods is to embed a secret image into a host image in such a way that the host should remain as similar as possible to its original version. In addition the host image should remain robust with respect to usual attacks. In this paper we present a method that tries to cover all above mentioned concerns. The secret and host images are divided into blocks of size 4 times 4. Each block in secret image is taken as a texture pattern for which the most similar block is found among the blocks of the host image. The embedding procedure is carried on by replacing these small blocks of the secret image with blocks in host image in such a way that least distortion would be imposed on it. We have used Gabor filter to measure the similarity between texture patterns. The location addresses of blocks in host image which are replaced by blocks of secret image are saved. This data is converted to a bit string and then modified by Hamming code. This bit string is embedded in DCT coefficients of the modified host image using a key which is the seed of a random number generator. Our experimental results showed a high level of capacity, robustness and minimum distortion on standard images