Masking based Data Hiding and Image Authentication Technique (MDHIAT)

In this paper a masking based data hiding and image authentication technique (MDHIAT) has been proposed by embedding a message/image into a colour image. Bits from authenticating message/image are embedded in single bit position under each byte of the source image by choosing a standard 3 x 3 mask in row major order. Point of insertion of a bit is obtained by computing modulus operation of the position of the image byte within the mask and an integer s whose value lies between 1 and 8. A message digest MD-5 has also been generated from authentication message/image and inserted into the source image in same manner to impart additional security. Experimental results show a good fidelity in embedded image when the value of s is less than equal to 6. Results are compared with the most popular steganographic algorithm S-Tools in terms of histogram, noise and, standard deviation analysis where proposed MDHIAT shows better performance in compared to S-Tools.