LSQb steganography method based on permutation encryption

Abstract

The application discloses an LSQb steganography method based on scrambling encryption, which comprises the following steps: performing Arnold scrambling and Fibonacci scrambling on a secret image in sequence, and embedding information of the secret image into a cover image to obtain a steganography image; extracting the lowest 2 bits of a gray value of each pixel of the image at a receiving end, and performing inverse Fibonacci scrambling and inverse Arnold scrambling on the extracted NEQR image in sequence; converting the NEQR image obtained from the above steps into a classical image, compressing the obtained image into a secret image size, and restoring the secret image. The application improves the concealment of the secret image transmission.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The application belongs to the field of quantum computing and image technology, and particularly relates to an LSQb steganography method based on scrambling encryption. BACKGROUND

[0002] In the digital information era, with the rapid development of computers and information technology, the security of images as an important carrier of information has become a focus of attention. The least significant bit (LSB) method is a steganography method that replaces the last bit of the binary form of each pixel value of the cover image as an information transmission carrier with secret information. Although it can achieve the hidden embedding of information, its security is vulnerable in front of professional analysis. In recent years, in order to realize the direct encoding of each pixel of a quantum image, a new enhanced quantum representation (NEQR) method can be used to encode the image, and the least significant bit of the quantum sequence of the pixel color or gray scale information of the cover image represented by the method is encoded to hide information, i.e. the least significant quantum bit (LSQb) method.

[0003] In the prior art, the NEQR combined with the LSQb method has been used to improve the security of image information. NEQR directly encodes image information through quantum states, while LSQb uses the least significant bit for information hiding at the quantum level, which can theoretically provide a higher security level than traditional methods. At the same time, the Arnold scrambling technique, as a means of transforming image pixel positions, is widely used in image encryption to enhance the anti-analysis ability of images.

[0004] However, although the combination of NEQR and LSQb can improve security, it consumes a large amount of quantum resources, and in the context of the lack of popularization of quantum computing, the implementation cost is high. At the same time, the randomness of the Arnold scrambling algorithm depends on the key, and once the key is leaked, the protection of the image will be greatly compromised. In addition, these methods have technical bottlenecks such as slow processing speed and large resource consumption in actual application, especially in the processing of large-scale image data. Most existing protection systems are built on the application layer and rely on additional operations, which cannot fundamentally avoid the copying and copying of data, thus posing a security risk. These technical problems limit their widespread application in actual scenarios, and there is an urgent need for more efficient and secure image information protection solutions. SUMMARY

[0005] The present application aims to provide an LSQb steganography method based on scrambling encryption, which improves the confidentiality of image information in the transmission process.

[0006] In order to achieve the purpose of the present application, the present application provides an LSQb steganography method based on scrambling encryption, comprising the following steps:

[0007] Step 1, selecting objects: selecting a certain size of gray-scale image as a cover image and a secret image, the cover image is larger than the secret image;

[0008] Step 2, obtaining quantum image: enlarging the secret image, converting the enlarged secret image and the cover image into quantum secret image and quantum cover image in NEQR form;

[0009] Step 3, obtaining stego image: Arnold scrambling the quantum secret image, then Fibonacci scrambling, and then embedding it into the quantum cover image to obtain the stego image;

[0010] Step 4, processing stego image: extracting the information of the stego image, and first performing inverse Fibonacci scrambling on the extracted stego image in NEQR form, and then performing inverse Arnold scrambling;

[0011] Step 5, restoring secret image: converting the processed stego image into a classical form image, and compressing it to finally restore the secret image.

[0012] Further, the certain size of gray-scale image in step 1 is a cover image of 2 n ×2 n and a secret image of 2 n-1 ×2 n-1 , and n is an integer.

[0013] Further, the step 2 includes the following steps:

[0014] 2-1, enlarge the image: the gray value of each pixel in the secret image is an 8-bit binary number c7c6c5c4c3c2c1c0; divide the binary number into four parts: c7c6, c5c4, c3c2, c1c0; the same bit number is composed of the relative position in the secret image, and the same size image as the secret image is composed of the same bit number; there are four images, arrange the images in a certain order, and splice them into an enlarged secret image with the same size and shape as the cover image;

[0015] 2-2, convert the form: measure the size of the image to be converted, determine the number of quantum bits 2n describing the size of the image, and convert the classical form image into a quantum image in NEQR form by using quantum register, and the conversion result is:

[0016]

[0017] Wherein is the pixel gray information of q-bit quantum bit encoding pixel, |i>=|y n- 1y n-2 …y0>|x n-1 x n-2…x0> is the vertical and horizontal position information of the pixel encoded by n qubits respectively.

[0018] Further, the step 3 comprises the following steps:

[0019] 3-1, Arnold scrambling: traverse each pixel in the quantum secret image, and transform its coordinates as follows:

[0020]

[0021] where i, j are the horizontal and vertical coordinates of the pixel before transformation, i', j' are the horizontal and vertical coordinates of the pixel after transformation, N is the size of the image, and a, b are integers agreed by both parties;

[0022] 3-2, Fibonacci scrambling: traverse each pixel in the image containing secret image information obtained in step 3-1, and transform its coordinates as follows:

[0023]

[0024] 3-3, embedding information: using a quantum comparator, compare the lowest two bits of the gray value of the pixel in the quantum secret image and the lowest two bits of the gray value of the pixel at the corresponding position in the quantum cover image, if the comparison result is different, perform a unitary operation on the lowest quantum bits of the gray value of the pixel in the quantum cover image, and finally obtain a stego image.

[0025] Further, the step 4 comprises the following steps:

[0026] 4-1, extracting information: extracting the lowest two bits of each pixel in the stego image to obtain a stego image in the form of NEQR with the same size;

[0027] 4-2, inverse Fibonacci scrambling: traverse each pixel in the stego image obtained by extraction, and transform its coordinates as follows:

[0028]

[0029] where i, j are the horizontal and vertical coordinates of the pixel before transformation, i', j' are the horizontal and vertical coordinates of the pixel after transformation, and N is the size of the image.

[0030] 4-3, inverse Arnold scrambling: traverse each pixel in the stego image obtained in step 4-2, and transform its coordinates as follows:

[0031]

[0032] where a, b are integers agreed by both parties.

[0033] Further, the step 4 specifically comprises the following steps:

[0034] 5-1, conversion: convert the processed stego image in the form of NEQR into an image in the classical form, obtain an image with two-bit binary pixels, i.e., c7c6, c5c4, c3c2, c1c0;

[0035] 5-2, compress the image: divide the image in the classical form into a field-shaped form, and superimpose the four-part images obtained by division according to the number of pixels in each part, to obtain an image with eight-bit binary pixels c7c6c5c4c3c2c1c0, i.e., to obtain a restored secret image.

[0036] An electronic device comprising a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, wherein the processor implements the above-mentioned steganographic method based on scrambling encryption LSQb.

[0037] A non-transitory computer readable storage medium, characterized in that the non-transitory computer readable storage medium stores computer instructions for causing the computer to execute the above-mentioned steganographic method based on scrambling encryption LSQb.

[0038] A computer program product comprising computer program instructions, which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to execute the above-mentioned steganographic method based on scrambling encryption LSQb.

[0039] Compared with the prior art, the significant progress of the present application is that: (1) the present application combines steganography with scrambling mode, improves the third-party detection cost and difficulty, and further improves the gray scale of the embedded image, which can fully utilize the cover image space while increasing the richness of steganographic information; (2) the present application uses a quantum computer to embed the least significant bit, which does not affect the generation quality of the stego image, and improves the efficiency of the calculation.

[0040] To more clearly illustrate the functional characteristics and structural parameters of the present application, the following further describes the present application in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0041] The drawings described herein are used to provide further understanding of the present application, and form a part of the present application. The schematic embodiments of the present application and their descriptions are used to explain the present application, and do not constitute an improper limitation on the present application. In the drawings:

[0042] Figure 1 is a flowchart of the steganographic system designed by the present application;

[0043] Figure 2 is a steganographic result diagram of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0044] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present application, rather than all the embodiments of the present application. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by a person of ordinary skill in the art without creative effort belong to the scope of protection of the present application.

[0045] In combination Figure 1 , the present application provides an LSQb steganography method based on scrambling encryption, which comprises the following steps:

[0046] Step 1, selecting an object: selecting a grayscale image as a cover image with a size of 2 n ×2 n and a secret image with a size of 2 n-1 × n-1 , and n is an integer;

[0047] Step 2, obtaining a quantum image: enlarging the secret image, and converting the enlarged secret image and the cover image into a quantum secret image and a quantum cover image in the form of NEQR;

[0048] 2-1, enlarging an image: the grayscale value of each pixel in the secret image is an 8-bit binary number c7c6c5c4c3c2c1c0; the binary number is divided into four parts: c7c6, c5c4, c3c2, c1c0, the numbers in the same bit are combined according to the relative position in the secret image to form an image with the same size as the secret image, and there are four such images, which are arranged in a certain order to form an enlarged secret image with the same size and shape as the cover image;

[0049] 2-2, converting the form: measuring the size of the image to be converted, determining the number of quantum bits 2n describing the size of the image, and converting the classical form of the image into a quantum image in the form of NEQR by using a quantum register, and the conversion result is:

[0050]

[0051] wherein is the pixel grayscale information of a q-bit quantum bit encoding pixel, |i>=|y n-1 y n-2 …y0>|x n-1 x n-2 …x0> is the vertical and horizontal position information of a pixel encoded by n quantum bits, respectively.

[0052] Step 3, obtaining stego image: Arnold scrambling is performed on the quantum secret image, then Fibonacci scrambling is performed, and then the quantum cover image is embedded to obtain the stego image;

[0053] 3-1, Arnold scrambling: traverse each pixel in the quantum secret image, and transform the coordinates as follows:

[0054]

[0055] Where i, j are the horizontal and vertical coordinates of the pixel before transformation, i', j' are the horizontal and vertical coordinates of the pixel after transformation, N is the size of the image, and a, b are integers agreed by both parties;

[0056] 3-2, Fibonacci scrambling: traverse each pixel in the image containing secret image information obtained in step 3-1, and transform the coordinates as follows:

[0057]

[0058] 3-3, embedding information: using quantum comparator, comparing the lowest two bits of the gray value of the pixel in the quantum secret image and the lowest two bits of the gray value of the corresponding pixel in the quantum cover image, if the comparison result is different, performing unitary operation on the lowest quantum bits of the gray value of the pixel in the quantum cover image, and finally obtaining the stego image.

[0059] Step 4, processing stego image: extracting the information of the stego image, and first performing inverse Fibonacci scrambling on the extracted stego image in NEQR form, and then performing inverse Arnold scrambling;

[0060] 4-1, extracting information: extracting the lowest two bits of each pixel in the stego image to obtain a stego image in NEQR form with the same size;

[0061] 4-2, inverse Fibonacci scrambling: traverse each pixel in the extracted stego image, and transform the coordinates as follows:

[0062]

[0063] Where i, j are the horizontal and vertical coordinates of the pixel before transformation, i', j' are the horizontal and vertical coordinates of the pixel after transformation, and N is the size of the image;

[0064] 4-3, inverse Arnold scrambling: traverse each pixel in the stego image obtained in step 4-2, and transform the coordinates as follows:

[0065]

[0066] Where a, b are integers agreed by both parties.

[0067] Step 5: Restore the secret image: Convert the processed steganographic image into a classic image and compress it to finally restore the secret image;

[0068] 5-1. Conversion format: Convert the processed NEQR format steganographic image into a classic format image to obtain an image with two binary digits per pixel, namely c7C6, C5C4, c3c2, and C1c0.

[0069] 5-2. Image Compression: Divide the classic image into a grid pattern, and then superimpose the four parts of the image according to the number of pixels in each part to obtain an image where each pixel is an 8-bit binary number c7C6c5C4C3C2c1c0, which is the restored secret image.

[0070] Example

[0071] An embodiment of the present invention is described in detail below. The simulation is performed using MATLAB programming, and the parameter settings do not affect the generality. This embodiment verifies the effectiveness and convergence of the proposed steganography method in the following scenario:

[0072] The sender of the image will Figure 2 The "Secret image" is embedded in the cover image as secret information, that is... Figure 2 The "Cover image" forms Figure 2 The receiving end extracts the secret information from the "Stego image". Figure 2 The “Extracted image” in the image.

[0073] contrast Figure 2 The “Stego image” and “Extracted image” show that the secret image embedded in the cover image is reproduced very well without error, proving the effectiveness of the steganography method.

[0074] In summary, the differential steganography method based on LSQb steganography proposed in this invention combines two steganography methods. By selecting a portion of the cover image as the LSQb encoding region, it can improve the anti-detection capability of the steganographic image while ensuring complete restoration of the secret information.

[0075] It should be noted that, in this document, terms such as “comprising,” “including,” or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not expressly listed, or elements inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

[0076] While embodiments of the application have been shown and described, it is to be understood that the application is not limited to the details of the embodiments described, since numerous changes, modifications, substitutions and variations can be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the application as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A stegano method of LSQb based on permutation encryption, characterized in that, The method comprises the following steps: Step 1, selecting an object: selecting a certain size of gray image as a cover image and a secret image, the cover image being larger than the secret image; Step 2, obtaining a quantum image: enlarging the secret image, and converting the enlarged secret image and the cover image into a quantum secret image and a quantum cover image in the form of NEQR; Step 3, obtaining a stego image: performing Arnold scrambling on the quantum secret image, then performing Fibonacci scrambling, and then embedding the quantum secret image into the quantum cover image to obtain a stego image; 3-1, Arnold scrambling: traversing each pixel in the quantum secret image, and performing the following transformation on the coordinates of the pixel: Where i, j are the horizontal and vertical coordinates of the pixel before transformation, i', j' are the horizontal and vertical coordinates of the pixel after transformation, N is the size of the image, and a, b are integers agreed by both parties; 3-2, Fibonacci scrambling: traversing each pixel in the image containing secret image information obtained in step 3-1, and performing the following transformation on the coordinates of the pixel: 3-3, embedding information: using a quantum comparator to compare the lowest two bits of the gray value of the pixel in the quantum secret image with the lowest two bits of the gray value of the corresponding pixel in the quantum cover image, if the comparison result is different, performing a unitary operation on the lowest quantum bits of the gray value of the pixel in the quantum cover image, and finally obtaining a stego image; Step 4, processing the stego image: extracting the information of the stego image, and first performing inverse Fibonacci scrambling on the extracted stego image in the form of NEQR, and then performing inverse Arnold scrambling; Step 5, restoring the secret image: converting the processed stego image into a classical form image, compressing the image, and finally restoring the secret image.

2. The stego method of LSQb based on scrambling encryption according to claim 1, characterized in that, The size of the gray scale image in step 1 is 2 n × 2 n cover image and 2 n-1 × 2 n-1 secret image, n is an integer.

3. The stego method of LSQb based on scrambling encryption according to claim 1, characterized in that, The step 2 comprises the following steps: 2-1, enlarging the image: the gray value of each pixel in the secret image is an 8-bit binary number c7c6c5c4c3c2c1c0; the binary number is divided into four parts: c7c6, c5c4, c3c2, c1c0; the same bits are grouped according to the relative position in the secret image to form four images with the same size as the secret image; and the images are arranged in a certain order to form an enlarged secret image with the same size and shape as the cover image; 2-2, converting the form: measuring the size of the image to be converted to determine the number of quantum bits 2n describing the size of the image, and converting the classical form image into a quantum image in the form of NEQR using a quantum register, and the conversion result is: wherein | i > = | y n- 1y n-2 …y0>|x n-1 x n-2 …x0> are the vertical, horizontal position information of the pixel encoded with n qubits respectively.

4. The stego method of LSQb based on scrambling encryption according to claim 1, characterized in that, The step 4 comprises the following steps: 4-1, extracting information: extracting the lowest two bits of each pixel of the stego image to obtain a stego image in the form of NEQR with the same size; 4-2, inverse Fibonacci scrambling: traversing each pixel in the extracted stego image, and performing the following transformation on the coordinates of the pixel: Where i, j are the horizontal and vertical coordinates of the pixel before transformation, i', j' are the horizontal and vertical coordinates of the pixel after transformation, and N is the size of the image; 4-3, inverse Arnold scrambling: traversing each pixel in the stego image obtained in step 4-2, and performing the following transformation on the coordinates of the pixel: Wherein a, b are integers agreed by both parties.

5. The stego method of LSQb based on scrambling encryption according to claim 1, characterized in that, The step 5 specifically comprises the following steps: 5-1, conversion: convert the processed stego image in NEQR form into a classical form image, to obtain an image with two-bit binary pixels, i.e. c7c6, c5c4, c3c2, c1c0; 5-2, compress the image: divide the classical form image into a cross form, and superimpose the four parts of the image according to the number of pixels in each part, to obtain an image with eight-bit binary pixels c7c6c5c4c3c2c1c0, i.e. to obtain a restored secret image.

6. An electronic device comprising a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, characterized in that, The processor implements the method of any one of claims 1 to 5 when executing the program.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, comprising: The non-transitory computer readable storage medium stores computer instructions for causing the computer to execute the method of any one of claims 1 to 5.

8. A computer program product comprising computer program instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 5.

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