International Journal of Electrical and Electronics

Engineering Research (IJEEER)

ISSN(P): 2250-155X; ISSN(E): 2278-943X
Vol. 4, Issue 4, Aug 2014, 179-190
TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.

SKIN TONE BASED SECRET DATA HIDING IN IMAGES

CLEONA CLEETUS FERNANDES, PRINCY P JAYAN, SAJIN MATHEW ZACHARIA &
ANCY S ANSELAM
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Mar Baselios College of Engineering and Technology,
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

ABSTRACT
Steganography is the technique by which one can hide the existence of a data in a cover or a medium thereby
enabling a secret transmission and reception of confidential data. Biometric feature such as skin tone regions in the image
is used to hide the data. Further, a transform domain based steganographic approach is adopted where secret data bits are
hidden within the DWT (Discrete Wavelet Transform) coefficients corresponding to skin pixels of the image. DWT of an
image yields four subbands. Among the four subbands, one of the high frequency subbands is chosen for data embedding.
Data hiding can be carried out in two ways, with cropping and without cropping. In with cropping, data is embedded in the
cropped skin regions whereas in without cropping data is hidden all over the entire image. Cropped image act as a key at
the decoder and provide more security to the data. Without cropping preserves histogram of DWT coefficients even after
data embedding and thus prevents any histogram based attack. Both cases provide a highly secure data as the result.
The simulation result shows an efficient PSNR value. And the results are the same for different DWTs such as
Haar, Biorthogonal and reverse biorthogonal wavelet transforms.

KEYWORDS: Skin Tone, HSV Color Space, Skin Tone Detection, DWT, Frequency Subband, With Cropping,
Without Cropping, PSNR, MSE, Security

INTRODUCTION
Security is the major problem faced by the world today. The data in a network or a communication channel is not
secure, as there are chances of it being hacked or changed by an eavesdropper. Many methods have been developed in
ancient times to secure the data. Greeks used several methods such as writing the secret message on a material and then
covering it with wax or tattooing on bald head and growing the hair back to cover the message. During World War II,
invisible ink was used to write secret messages in between the lines of a cover text document. Today methods like
encryption, cryptography and steganography are in use to hide the message or data. All the methods explain data hiding in
a similar manner. However, steganography adapts to a different perspective of hiding the very existence of a hidden data in
a cover carrier. The word steganography have aroused from two Greek words stegos meaning covered and graphie
means writing. It is thus, a technique by which secret messages are written in a cover carrier such that only the sender
and the recipient is aware of the existence of a hidden data within the cover. The cover can be text document, image, audio
or video. By performing steganography, the original cover carrier is not changed in its appearance and hence it becomes
very difficult for an eavesdropper to crack the hidden data from the cover. Therefore, the chances of the data getting
manipulated become very rare.

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Cleona Cleetus Fernandes, Princy P Jayan, Sajin Mathew Zacharia & Ancy S Anselam

TYPES OF STEGANOGRAPHY
In physical steganography [1], secret data can be written using invisible ink, or within the blank spaces of a text
document, or a Morse code message can be written on clothes using the knitting yarn or the messages can be simply
written at the back of a postal stamp.
In digital steganography, secret data can be written within a program in the computer. Around 700 digital
steganography applications have been recognized by the Steganography Analysis and Research Center (SARC).
In Blog Steganography, entire secret message is splitted into different segments and are written as comments in
text fields of blogs and other social networking sites. The sites and blogs are selected by a symmetric key which is known
only to the sender and the receiver. Here the carrier is the blog sphere as a whole.
In printed steganography, the message or plaintext is initially encrypted to a cipher text. A cover text is then
identified and is modified in some way or the other so as to contain the cipher text. Manipulation of the cover text can be
done in different methods such as changing the size of cover text, spacing between words, or by varying its other
characteristics. Recipient should be aware of the manipulation technique used for encryption.
Digital Images
Since digital images are the most widely used medium, it is preferred in steganography. Humans have limited
visual perception of colors and this is taken into consideration while using digital images. Moreover there are many
softwares and programs which operate on these digital images. More information can be hided on large images.
However, these require compression for avoiding detection. While performing steganography on the digital image, it is to
be ensured that the quality of the image is retained.
Steganography vs Cryptography
Cryptography does only the encryption and decryption of data while steganography hides the data in the cover
image. Cryptanalysis is involved in cryptography to decrypt the encrypted message whereas stegoanalysis is performed to
find the hidden data from the cover image. Message is scrambled and made meaningless and undetectable in cryptography.
The message is not made meaningless but it is only contained with additional hidden information. However, a cover image
with hidden information when encrypted becomes very secure. That is, a combination of steganography and cryptography
forms a text which is much more secure.
Applications of Steganography
Steganography has many applications which include confidential communication and data storage, protection of
data alteration, access control system for digital content distribution and media database systems.

RELATED WORK
Steganography Based on LSB (Least Significant Bit) Substitution
LSB substitution steganography is the simplest and direct technique in which secret data bits are embedded
directly to the LSB plane of the cover image. Spatial features of the image are taken into consideration for performing the
steganographic technique. In LSB substitution, confidential data is embedded to the bits in the cover image with smallest
weightings (LSB). Embedding procedure does not affect the original pixel values of the cover image [4]. Mathematically
Impact Factor (JCC): 5.9638

Index Copernicus Value (ICV): 3.0

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Skin Tone Based Secret Data Hiding in Images

LSB substitution can be given by the equation,

(1)
where is the ith pixel value of the stego image, is the ith pixel value of the original image and is the value of the ith
block in the confidential message. Number of LSB substitution is given by. Extraction process involves copying of the
LSBs directly. Mathematical representation of extracted secret data is given by,
(2)
Here, simple permutation of extracted secret data

gives the original confidential data [5]. LSB substitution

based steganography is thus a simple and direct method. However, it has a low ability to withstand noises and signal
variations. It is also possible to hack the confidential data from the cover image, if the LSB plane of the image is acquired
completely.
Steganography Based on Transform Domain
Improvement in the robustness of steganographic technique is possible if the cover image properties are
efficiently utilized. A frequency domain approach is rather preferable considering this fact. In this method, the transmitter
transforms the cover image to frequency domain coefficients initially. Secret message is then embedded to any of the
subband frequency domain coefficients [6]. Different frequency subbands with frequency domain coefficients give
information of relevant and irrelevant pixels in the image. Higher frequency bands provide less visual impact and are
therefore best suited for embedding confidential data. But they are prone to more attacks. Lower frequency bands protect
the confidential data embedded from many attacks. However, they do not retain the original image quality after embedding
and hence the very existence of a secret message within the cover image may be identified. Middle frequency bands can be
relied upon to hide the data as they provide excellent locations to embed the data. Frequency domain approach is time
consuming and more complex when compared to spatial domain approach. However, it is more secure and noise tolerant.
DCT or DWT approaches can be adopted to transform the image to frequency domain.
Masking and Filtering Based Steganography
The technique of masking and filtering is limited to 24 bit gray scale images. An image is masked to a cover
image in a manner similar to watermarking. Image is initially analyzed and then information is hidden in significant areas.
This makes the secret message more integral to the cover image.
Adaptive Steganography
The method of adaptive steganography is a combination of both LSB substitution based steganography and
Transform domain based steganography. It is also known as Statistical aware embedding and masking [7].
The statistical global features of the image are considered before embedding the secret message to the DCT or DWT
coefficients. Here, the statistics illustrates where to make changes.

PROPOSED WORK
A new approach of secret data hiding is introduced in this paper. This technique uses the biometric feature such as
skin tone in the cover image as the significant area where secret image can be hidden. Skin tone is preferred as it is less
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sensitive to human visual system [3]. Thus the secret image is embedded only to a certain region of the cover image rather
than to the entire cover image. This makes the secret data more secure from attacks.
In general, the method can be described in the following manner. Initially, the cover image is loaded and skin tone
detection is performed on it using HSV [Hue, Saturation, and Value] color space. Transform domain based steganography
[1] is then performed to obtain a stego image.
Data embedding con be applied in two ways: (a) With Cropping and (b) Without Cropping, the cover image.
In without cropping case, transform domain based steganography is performed to the entire cover image while in with
cropping case, this is performed only to the cropped image of the cover and then the cropped stego image is merged with
the original cover image. In this case, the cropped image can act as a key at the decoder side. This provides more security
to the embedded data. Since embedding is done only to certain significant areas of interest in the cover image, one can say
that certain objects within the cover image are only utilized. Hence, this method can also be called as Object Oriented
Steganography [3].
Wavelet and Wavelet Transforms
A wavelet is a wave like oscillation with increasing, decreasing and zero amplitude. Wavelets are combined using
convolution and a known information can be used to retrieve an unknown information. The first wavelet is the
Haar wavelet. Later in the 1970s and 1980s other transforms like Morlet, Daubechies, Meyer, and Coiflet were
introduced.
A wavelet transform is a function represented by the wavelets. These are more advantageous than other
transforms as they represent functions with discontinuities and sharp peaks. They are used to precisely deconstruct and
reconstruct finite, non stationary and non periodic signals and images. Wavelet transforms are useful in data compression,
signal analysis and communication applications. They are commonly used in engineering, computer science and scientific
researches.
Detection of Skin Tone Using HSV Color Space
Skin tone detection is performed to distinguish between skin and non skin pixels. A skin detector will convert a
given pixel to a chosen color space and a skin classifier will label pixels as skin or non skin pixels [8].
Skin tone detection procedure produces a mask as its output which contains only two pixel values. The resulting
mask is a binary image. The pixel value of 1 represents a skin pixel and the pixel value of 0 represents a non skin pixel.
This method is adopted to simply distinguish the skin and non skin pixels in the cover image and is not intended in
defining any boundary. RGB color image can be converted to any of the different color spaces available. The different
color spaces include HSV, YCbCr etc. In this paper, we deal with HSV color space. There is certain range of values in the
HSV color space which defines the skin tone of human beings [3]. Using the HSV color space we need to detect the skin
tone from the cover image. For this, convert the color image to HSV color space. The skin tone detection is performed
using only the Hue and Saturation dimensions and not on the Value dimension. Value is either 1 or 0. Detect the skin tone
of the image by setting a threshold for Hue and Saturation dimensions. A gray scale value can be considered as a skin pixel
if it falls within this decision threshold else it is considered as a non skin pixel. Commonly the threshold value falls within
the range of 0 to 0.11 for Hue and 0.2 to 0.7 for Saturation.

Impact Factor (JCC): 5.9638

Index Copernicus Value (ICV): 3.0

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Encoding Procedure
For encoding, consider a cover image C, of size AxB. The cover image is an RGB image with sufficient number
of skin pixels, so that the payload (number of bits in which data can be hided) can be increased. The secret image S, is of
size pxq and is taken as a binary image. Encoding can be done in two ways

With Cropping and,

Without Cropping, the cover image

Case 1: Without Cropping

In the without cropping case, the secret image is embedded into the entire cover image. A simple but yet effective
embedding algorithm is used which does not make any modifications to the image histogram after the embedding of data
bits to the cover image. That is, the embedding procedure makes no modifications to the pixel values so that the
corresponding binary value in the histogram is modified. For this, Lehmers multiplicative congruential algorithm is used.
By using this algorithm, data can be hided in the cover image such that the first order statistics of the DWT coefficients are
preserved i.e, histogram of the cover image does not get modified after embedding process. Flowchart for without cropping
case is shown in Figure 1 and the different steps involved in the process are discussed below

Figure 1: Flowchart for Encoding Using Without Cropping Case

Algorithm

Start

Load the cover image C, of size AxB.

Perform skin tone detection on the cover image using HSV color space. Create a mask of skin and non skin pixels
of size AxB. This is a binary image.

Obtain the R, G and B planes from the cover image. To the B-plane, perform DWT. This gives four subbands
denoted as LL, LH, HL, and HH. Embedding is performed on one of the high frequency subband. Let it be the HH
subband.

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Cleona Cleetus Fernandes, Princy P Jayan, Sajin Mathew Zacharia & Ancy S Anselam

Retrieve the skin pixels from the HH component using the mask. This is saved as a matrix.

To the matrix containing skin pixels, apply Lehmers congruential algorithm. Starting from the first pixel in the
matrix, a pair is found using a pseudo random sequence, generated by Lehmers congruential generator. Lehmers
generators use three integer parameters a, c, m and a seed having initial value, x=0; to generate the sequence. It is
given by,
(3)
When the pairs are formed, secret data bits are embedded based on pixel pair values. To embed 0, check whether

initial pixel value of the pair is smaller than the later. If so, no modification is made otherwise the pixel values are
swapped. To embed 1, check whether initial pixel value of the pair is larger than the later. If so, no modification is made
otherwise the pixel values are swapped. In this manner, the pixel values are only altered and not modified. This makes the
total count of pixels in the image to remain the same leading to an unmodified histogram. The embedding algorithm is as
explained below.
A matrix with skin pixels and the secret message bits of size P is given as the input.
A modified matrix of skin pixels with secret message is obtained as output.
Start

Obtain non overlapping random pair from the secret image S. Let this pair be (k1, k2).
If count=P (size of message bits) then
Go to End.
Else
Go to Step 2.

Check whether k1=k2 then

Go to step 1 and choose another pair.

Check whether k1k2 then

Go to step 4.

If secret data bit=0, then

Check whether (k1> k2)
If k1>k2then swap (k1, k2)
Go to step 5.
Else
Go to step5

Choose next secret data bit.

Impact Factor (JCC): 5.9638

Index Copernicus Value (ICV): 3.0

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Skin Tone Based Secret Data Hiding in Images

Go to step 1 to choose another pair.

If secret data bit=1, then

Check whether (k1< k2)
If k1 < k2 then swap (k1, k2)
Go to step 7.
Else
Go to step 7.

Choose next secret data bit.

Go to step 1.
End
This embedding algorithm reduces the payload to half the value and is therefore not applicable in with cropping

encoding. In with cropping case, there are only fewer regions to hide data and if payload is further reduced then embedding
becomes inefficient.

The modified matrix is reinstated in the HH subband and the subband is now contained with secret data.

All the frequency subbands are recombined together by performing IDWT. The R, G, B planes are also merged to
obtain a stego image of good quality.

Stop

Case 2: With Cropping

Consider the cover image C, of size AxB. Crop the cover to obtain the cropped image of size AcxBc where Ac A,
Bc B, and Ac=Bc. Flowchart for the same is shown in figure 2.

Figure 2: Flowchart for Encoding Using with Cropping Case

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Cleona Cleetus Fernandes, Princy P Jayan, Sajin Mathew Zacharia & Ancy S Anselam

While cropping, it should be ensured that the cropped region is an exact square region and that it should contain
only skin regions. This cropped image can be used as a key at the decoder side. Embedding of secret data bits is performed
as per Raster Scan order.
Algorithm

Start

Load the cover image and detect the skin tone in the cover image and create a mask.

Crop the cover image as well as the mask to obtain two cropped regions of same size AcxBc.

Separate the B plane from the cropped image and perform DWT to the B plane of cropped image. Ensure that
DWT is performed only to the cropped area. This provides four subbands LL, LH, HL, and HH as mentioned
earlier.

Secret data bits are now embedded on one of the high frequency subbands (here, say HH) using raster scan order.
In raster scan order, secret data bits are embedded coefficient by coefficient in the high frequency HH subband
[5], if the coefficients are of skin pixels. Here the skin pixels can be traced using the cropped mask obtained
earlier. During the embedding process, one of the high frequency subband (HH) bits are replaced with secret data
bits.

Combine all the four subbands by performing IDWT. This yields a cropped stego image of size AcxBc.

The cropped stego image is resized to AxB by merging it with the original cover image C. This is possible by
finding the first and last pixel values of cropped image in the cover image. Now, a stego image of size AxB is
obtained. This can be quality evaluated.

Decoding
The input to the decoding process is the stego image of size AxB. Flowchart for decoding process is as shown in
Figure 3.
Algorithm

Start

Load the stego image of size AxB. Perform skin tone detection and create a mask.

For without cropping case, take DWT of B plane of stego image. Retrieve secret data from HH component of the
stego image by using Lehmers Congruential Generator. This is to form the skin pixel pairs (k1, k2) as in the
encoding process.
If k1< k2 then message bit=0 and
If k1> k2 then message bit=1.
Thus the secret image is retrieved.

For with cropping case, using the rect key obtained from encoder side, crop the stego image. Take the DWT of the
B plane of the cropped stego image using the mask of skin tone detection stage.

Impact Factor (JCC): 5.9638

Index Copernicus Value (ICV): 3.0

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Skin Tone Based Secret Data Hiding in Images

Stop

Figure 3: Flowchart for Decoding Process

RESULTS
The proposed method has been simulated in MATLAB 2013. A color image and a secret image as shown in
Figure 4, is used in the implementation stage of this method. These images can be preferred to encode using with cropping
and without cropping techniques.

Figure 4: Color Image and Secret Image

Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) and mean square error (MSE) is calculated to check the quality of the stego
image obtained after encoding process. PSNR in dB can be given by,

(4)
where,

(5)
yij and yij represents original cover image and stego image respectively.
It can be observed that a larger PSNR value in dB denotes a good quality stego image and a smaller PSNR value
in dB denotes a low quality stego image. PSNR values below 30 dB yields a low quality image whereas a value above 40
dB ensures a high quality stego image.

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The simulation results provide a good quality stego image in both with cropping and without cropping cases.
The stego image and retrieved secret image for with and without cropping cases are shown in Figure 5(a), 5(b) and 5(c);
and Figure 6(a) and 6(b) respectively.

Figure 5: (a) Cropped Stego Image, (b) Stego Image and (c) Retrieved Secret Image,
for Encoding Using with Cropping Case

Figure 6: (a) Stego Image (b) Retrieved Secret Image for Encoding Using Without Cropping Case
The encoding was performed on different images with different payload and improved PSNR and MSE values
were obtained. This is shown in table 1 and 2 respectively.
Table1: PSNR and MSE Value for Encoding Using with Cropping Case
Cover Image
Image1
Image2
Image3
Image4
Image5
Average

PSNR
58.4251
63.2722
42.3255
39.9614
38.4650
48.48984

MSE
0.0934
0.0306
3.8066
6.5605
9.2594
3.9501

The retrieved image at the decoder in with cropping case has however less amount of noise in it and by applying a
thresholding noise removal is possible in this case.
Table 2: PSNR and MSE Value for Encoding Using without Cropping Case
Cover Image
Image1
Image2
Image3
Image4
Image5
Average

PSNR
58.9091
60.8376
54.9740
56.0164
52.5587
56.65916

MSE
0.0836
0.0536
0.2069
0.1627
0.3608
0.17352

The retrieved image in without cropping case has a finite amount of noise in it. Denoising was not possible in this
case.
The encoding was performed on the cover image using different DWTs such as biorthogonal and reverse
biorthogonal and the result was the same as in Haar DWT.
Impact Factor (JCC): 5.9638

Index Copernicus Value (ICV): 3.0

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Embedding data without cropping yields an image free from histogram attacks. Embedding data with cropping
provide with a more secure data. However, the embedding algorithm is different in both the cases. This is because the
payload in both cases is different as cropping is done in one method and no cropping is performed in the other.

CONCLUSIONS
Transform domain based steganography provides a higher security to the data embedded to a cover. In this
method, the data is embedded to the B plane DWT coefficients of the entire cover image or cropped cover image. The
former case prevents histogram based attacks and the later provides highly secure data. Both cases provide high quality
stego images with much security.

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Dr. Emad S. Othman, Hide and seek: embedding audio into RGB 24 bit color image sporadically using linked
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