Improved reversible data hiding using histogram shifting method

A reversible data hiding (RDH) algorithm with improved security, which can reacquire the cover in separable manner from the marked stego-image is presented in this paper. In the content owner side cover image is encrypted by deploying user-defined security key derived-chaotic based transposition algorithm. Then the data hider conceals secret data into the encrypted image by perturbing its histogram, by utilizing another user defined data hiding key. At the receiver side, the recuperation of the cover can be implemented directly or indirectly which depends on shared key. Lower bound of Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) for direct recuperation method is set to 48.13dB. This technique has improved security & achieved higher data hiding capacity than the existing methods.