With the rapid growth of communication technologies, securing private data during transmission over public networks has become a significant challenge. Traditional data hiding methods, such as modifying the least significant bits (LSBs) of image pixels, often lead to visible distortion, especially when embedding large amounts of data. To address this issue, we propose a novel image steganography method that combines AES encryption, a Fine Tuning Transformer (FTT) classifier, and LSB embedding integrated with a Binary Lower Triangular Matrix (BLTM) for secure data hiding. In the proposed approach, the secret image is first encrypted using AES to ensure data confidentiality. The FTT classifier then predicts three block labels that determine the amount of data to be embedded in each block. Using the BLTM concept along with LSB substitution, the encrypted data is embedded into both cover images. Finally, to further enhance security, the two stego images are encrypted using a master key. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme provides high imperceptibility. Even at the maximum embedding rate of 0.93 bpp, the PSNR values remain above 56 dB, while the Mean Square Error (MSE) is low and the Structural Similarity Index (SSIM) stays above 0.97. The proposed dual-image steganographic framework advances secure multimedia communication by supporting image authentication, tamper detection, and forgery prevention benefiting domains such as healthcare, defense, and digital rights protection. It also offers adaptive payload allocation and strong robustness against noise, salt-and-pepper, opaque masking, and grid occlusion attacks, making the system both reliable and attack resilient.
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