A Novel Pixel Block-Based Data Hiding Method for Improved Payload Capacity Using 2-Dimensional Block Segmentation

Steganography is the practice of hiding information by embedding it as secret data within various types of digital media to strengthen security. Numerous algorithms have been proposed for image steganography with a common purpose of minimizing the perceptibility of the secret data existence to the human vision system. The most used in images steganography is the Least Significant Bit (LSB) technique; however, it is vulnerable to steganalysis and lacks robust verification processes. To address this, in this article, a new steganographic approach is proposed to optimize the image's pixels use for embedding the secret data. The proposed method, considering adjacent pixels, introduces a new data-hiding technique that enhances payload capacity by using two-dimensional block segmentation to embed information within pixel blocks. Experimental results show that the method outperforms previous studies reviewed in this work, achieving a Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) between 49.7054 and 73.0848 decibels (dB) and Structural Similarity Index Measure (SSIM) between 0.9977 to 1.0000 for the selected difference range between −4 and 4, indicating high-quality stego images.