HIDE-IT: An Enhance Secure Least Significant Bit Image Steganographic System Using Dual Encryption Techniques

Abstract Data breaches have consistently posed a challenge when it comes to sharing confidential data. Defending communication in data security systems is challenging, especially when it involves concealing information within images without noticeable changes to the visual content. Anyone who possesses the correct key or method can uncover the concealed information. While cryptography techniques have been advanced for ensuring message integrity, privacy, and data security on unsecured communication networks, there is still no foolproof way to ensure the accuracy of the information being transmitted. This paper identifies a crucial flaw in maintaining the trustworthiness of hidden data, as existing encryption techniques may raise doubts, and suggests a solution with an Enhance Secure image Steganographic System that incorporates Least Significant Bit and Dual Encryption Techniques. The recently created system was extensively tested using three common image steganography metrics: PSNR, SSIM, and bpp, resulting in average values of 74.18, 0.98, and 6.35 respectively. These values show outstanding performance by exhibiting no apparent distortion between the cover and stego-image, and they exceed the results of previous research efforts.