Video Steganography Using Knight Tour Algorithm and LSB Method for Encrypted Data

Abstract This paper aims to propose a method for data hiding in video by utilizing the least significant bit (LSB) method and improving it by utilizing the knight tour algorithm for concealing the data inside the AVI video file and using a key function encryption method for encrypting the secret message. First, the secret message is encrypted by utilizing a mathematical equation. The key used in the equation is a set of random numbers. These numbers differ in each implementation to warrant the safety of the hidden message and to increase the security of the secret message. Then, the cover video was converted from a set of frames into separated images to take the advantage of the large size of video file. Afterward, the knight tour algorithm is utilized for random selecting of the pixels inside the frame utilized for embedding the secret message inside it to overcome the shortcoming of the conventional LSB method that utilized the serial selection of pixel and to increase the robustness and security of the proposed method. Afterward, the encrypted secret message is embedded inside the selected pixels by utilizing the LSB method in bits (7 and 8). The observational results have drawn that the proposed method has a superior performance compared to the previous steganography method in terms of quality by a high PSNR of 67.3638 dB and the lowest MSE of 0.2578. Furthermore, this method preserves the security where the secret message cannot be drawn out without knowing the decoding rules.