Data hiding using adaptive LSB and PVD technique resisting PDH and RS analysis

This paper proposes an improved data hiding technique using the principle of least significant bit (LSB) substitution and pixel value differencing (PVD). It addresses two issues: 1) the error block problem (EBP); 2) the fall of boundary problem (FOBP). The image is divided into non-overlapping blocks of two consecutive pixels. The blocks are divided into three levels depending upon the pixel value difference. The level of the block and the pixel difference range decides the hiding capacity of a block. The proposed technique has been compared with related existing techniques in terms of parameters like peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR), quality index (Q), hiding capacity, bits per pixel (BPP), and the count of the blocks suffering from FOBP. The experimental results prove that the proposed technique offers better PSNR and hiding capacity as compared to the related existing techniques. Furthermore, the proposed technique is resistant to pixel difference histogram (PDH) analysis and RS analysis.