Image Hiding with an Improved Genetic Algorithm and an Optimal Pixel Adjustment Process

Abstract

Image hiding techniques embed a secret image into a cover image. The fusion of the two, called a stego- image, fools grabbers who would not be conscious of the differences between the cover image and. the stego- image. A secret image can be transferred safely using this technique. In general, we would disarrange each pixel in the secret image and adjust all of them to form a suitable string of bits that could be embedded. Then these bits are embedded into the cover image in corresponding places, and this image would become a stego-image that hides secret data. This paper suggests a new image disarranging technique. It uses an improved genetic algorithm and an Optimal Pixel Adjustment Process, OPAP, to enhance the quality of a Stego-image. Experimental results show that a stego- image is indistinguishable from the cover-image. The stego-image can embed 4 bits per pixel, and the mean- square error of a stego-image is much lower than results for previous methods.