Image steganography for authenticity of visual contents in social networks

Social networks are major sources of image sharing and secret messaging among the people. To date, such networks are not strictly bounded by copyright laws due to which image sharing, secret messaging, and its authentication is vulnerable to many risks. In addition to this, maintaining the confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity of secret messages is an open challenge of today’s communication systems. Steganography is one of the solutions to tackle these problems. This paper proposes a secure crystographic framework for authenticity of visual contents using image steganography, utilizing color model transformation, three-level encryption algorithm (TLEA), and Morton scanning (MS)-directed least significant bit (LSB) substitution. The method uses I-plane of the input image in HSI for secret data embedding using MS-directed LSB substitution method. Furthermore, the secret data is encrypted using TLEA prior to embedding, adding an additional level of security for secure authentication. The qualitative and quantitative results verify the better performance of the proposed scheme and provide one of the best mechanisms for authenticity of visual contents in social networks.