One of the most considering matters in the field of quantum information processing is quantum data hiding including quantum steganography and quantum watermarking. This field is an efficient tool for protecting any kind of digital data. In this paper, three quantum color images steganography algorithms are investigated based on Least Significant Bit (LSB). The first algorithm employs only one of the image’s channels to cover secret data. The second procedure is based on LSB XORing technique, and the last algorithm utilizes two channels to cover the color image for hiding secret quantum data. The performances of the proposed schemes are analyzed by using software simulations in MATLAB environment. The analysis of PSNR, BER and Histogram graphs indicate that the presented schemes exhibit acceptable performances and also theoretical analysis demonstrates that the networks complexity of the approaches scales squarely.
One of the most considering matters in the field of quantum information processing is quantum data hiding including quantum steganography and quantum watermarking. This field is an efficient tool for protecting any kind of digital data. In this paper, three quantum color images steganography algorithms are investigated based on Least Significant Bit (LSB). The first algorithm employs only one of the image’s channels to cover secret data. The second procedure is based on LSB XORing technique, and the last algorithm utilizes two channels to cover the color image for hiding secret quantum data. The performances of the proposed schemes are analyzed by using software simulations in MATLAB environment. The analysis of PSNR, BER and Histogram graphs indicate that the presented schemes exhibit acceptable performances and also theoretical analysis demonstrates that the networks complexity of the approaches scales squarely.
In this paper, a quantum color image watermarking scheme is proposed through twice-scrambling of Arnold transformations and steganography of least significant bit (LSB). Both carrier image and watermark images are represented by the novel quantum representation of color digital images model (NCQI). The image sizes for carrier and watermark are assumed to be [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], respectively. At first, the watermark is scrambled into a disordered form through image preprocessing technique of exchanging the image pixel position and altering the color information based on Arnold transforms, simultaneously. Then, the scrambled watermark with [Formula: see text] image size and 24-qubit grayscale is further expanded to an image with size [Formula: see text] and 6-qubit grayscale using the nearest-neighbor interpolation method. Finally, the scrambled and expanded watermark is embedded into the carrier by steganography of LSB scheme, and a key image with [Formula: see text] size and 3-qubit information is generated at the meantime, which only can use the key image to retrieve the original watermark. The extraction of watermark is the reverse process of embedding, which is achieved by applying a sequence of operations in the reverse order. Simulation-based experimental results involving different carrier and watermark images (i.e. conventional or non-quantum) are simulated based on the classical computer’s MATLAB 2014b software, which illustrates that the present method has a good performance in terms of three items: visual quality, robustness and steganography capacity.
The development of future technology allows the transfer of information transmission in quantum form to be more widely used. However, research related to data security is still in progress and is limited so that it can provide greater potential for data theft with quantum technology. One of them is the theft of visual information data (image). Thus, we need a data security system that can protect image information in quantum computing. Quantum image watermarking is a data security technique by inserting a watermark that aims to protect property rights for multimedia products, such as images. This study proposes a quantum image watermarking scheme based on (Least Significant Bits) LSB for copyright protection for color images. In the embedding process, the watermark image is inserted into the cover image using the LSB method, then transformed into a quantum state. In the receiver, the quantum value detection is carried out on the watermarked image to extract back the watermark that has been inserted. From simulation result, the quantum watermarking system obtains high imperceptibility, the watermark robustness to Pauli-X and Pauli-Controlled-NOT (CNOT) noise and high watermark payload.
Digital steganography is the art and science of hiding information in covert channels, so as to conceal the information and prevent the detection of hidden messages. On the classic computer, the principle and method of digital steganography has been widely and deeply studied, and has been initially extended to the field of quantum computing. Quantum image steganography is a relatively active branch of quantum image processing, and the main strategy currently used is to modify the LSB of the cover image pixels. For the existing LSB-based quantum image steganography schemes, the embedding capacity is no more than 3 bits per pixel. Therefore, it is meaningful to study how to improve the embedding capacity of quantum image steganography. This work presents a novel steganography using reflected Gray code for color quantum images, and the embedding capacity of this scheme is up to 6 bits per pixel. In proposed scheme, the secret qubit sequence is considered as a sequence of 6-bit segments. For 6 bits in each segment, the first 3 bits are embedded into the second LSB of RGB channels of the cover image, and the remaining 3 bits are embedded into the LSB of RGB channels of the cover image using reflected-Gray code to determine the embedded bit from secret information. Following the transforming rule, the LSBs of stego-image are not always same as the secret bits and the differences are up to almost 50%. Experimental results confirm that the proposed scheme shows good performance and outperforms the previous ones currently found in the literature in terms of embedding capacity.
Quantum watermarking uses quantum images as carriers to achieve secure transmission of secret information. In this paper, a quantum color image watermarking protocol based on LSB (Least Significant Bit, LSB) is proposed. Firstly, the protocol divides an image into several 2×2 non-overlapping blocks. Next, watermarking image calculates the absolute differences with R channels of carrier image, and embeds it into the minimum difference position. Then, taking watermarking image clockwise is embedded into the carrier image counterclockwise. Embedding all blocks generates a 2n×2n watermarked image finally. The extraction is the reverse process of embedding. This protocol also gives quantum circuit diagrams for embedding and extraction. Simulation results show that the protocol has a high embedding capacity up to 8 bits/pixel, PSNR (Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio, PSNR) over 40 dB, SSIM (Structural Similarity Index Metric, SSIM) around 0.98, and the complexity lower than o(22n2).
Steganography of quantum images is restricted by high fidelity and robustness, which limit hiding capacity and decrease visual quality.To improve the concealment of steganographic embedding of secret messages and enhance embedding capacity, the present study proposed a quantum red-green-blue (RGB) image steganography based on image block and gray level difference.First, digital color images were represented by quantum models and divided into non-overlapping blocks.Second, reference pixels in the blocks were selected, and gray level difference between the reference pixels and the G channel of other pixels was calculated.Third, according to the location of the difference, different bit planes where secret messages were embedded into the R and the B channels of the carrier image were determined.Finally, steganographic image was divided into blocks.The G channel gray difference was calculated, and the original secret message was extracted.Results demonstrate that quantum RGB image steganography has a steganographic capacity of four bits per pixel, and its quantum circuit is less complex.In comparison with other quantum image steganographic methods, the proposed method ensures a large steganographic capacity while realizing satisfactory visual quality and steganographic concealment.The study provides reference significance for exploring data hiding and quantum image security based on quantum RGB image block.
Several approaches and techniques exist to make communication via the internet secure, one of these approaches is steganography. Computer steganography is a technique used to conceal data within cover media, ensuring that its presence remains undetected by others. We investigate the steganography potential applications in quantum communication and assess its benefits in the context of secret information transmission. Quantum computers, built on the principles of quantum physics, have introduced new possibilities for researchers in security and computer science. This paper explores the possibilities of realizing a quantum steganography communication, the challenges and its achievements of quantum steganography to tackle a wide range of security and privacy challenges. The article deals with the steganography system which hides text inside images and after that realize quantum communication. The secret message is hidden in the cover image using Least Significant Bit (LSB) algorithm. The paper proposes an information transmission scheme with a quantum channel enabled and visualization of quantum steganography protocol.