A Two-Phase Embedding Approach for Secure Distributed Steganography.

Area of Science:

• Computer Science
• Information Security
• Cryptography

Background:

• Traditional steganography methods lack resilience and efficiency.
• Distributed steganography enhances security but increases complexity.
• Secure communication requires robust and practical information concealment techniques.

Purpose of the Study:

• Introduce a novel two-phase embedding algorithm for distributed steganography.
• Mitigate complexity issues in distributed steganography.
• Enhance both security and practicality in information concealment.

Main Methods:

• Utilize Shamir's Secret Sharing to divide secret messages into shares.
• Embed shares into distinct media containers using pseudo-random LSB paths.
• Implement a two-phase embedding process with internal and shared stego keys for layered security.

Main Results:

• High-quality stego images maintained, with Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Structural Similarity Index Measure (SSIM) evaluations.
• Effective embedding up to 0.95 bits per pixel (bpp) without significant quality degradation.
• Stealthiness confirmed by advanced steganalysis tools (StegoExpose, Aletheia) with zero detections.

Conclusions:

• The novel algorithm offers a secure and efficient advancement in distributed steganography.
• Reduced key management complexity and enhanced resilience against steganalytic attacks.
• Facilitates resilient information concealment in sophisticated communication environments.