Role of Bit Hybridization in Digital Image Steganography: A Review Study

Abstract

The combination of traditional steganography techniques such as least significant bit and most significant bit in a hybrid approach that improves capacity, imperceptibility and robustness is timely. In this review, the role of bit hybridization in digital image steganography was investigated. Different steganography techniques, such as picture steganography, steganography based on discrete cosine transform, discrete wavelet based steganography and hybrid based steganography were examined. Results revealed that the hybrid technique that combines least significant bit and most significant bit demonstrated more robustness, capacity and imperceptibility than any single steganography technique. Findings further show that the limitations of traditional steganography techniques are greatly reduced in the hybrid scheme.  Based on these findings, the study recommends that there is an urgent need to safeguard data security through improved steganography technique that addresses the inherent weaknesses of existing methods. This would help avert the challenges to secure data communication, especially in sensitive applications such as confidential messaging, watermarking, and digital forensics