Enhancing Data Security Through Double Steganography Approaches

The growth of internet users aligns closely with population growth, with more people going online each year. As internet usage expands, both individuals and companies increasingly prioritize privacy in their digital activities, making data security a key concern. In the field of steganography, double steganography plays a significant role by offering enhanced data security through the combination of multiple embedding techniques. This study focuses on double steganography in the spatial domain, utilizing the LSB, ISB, and MSB methods. The MSB-LSB technique emerges as the optimal choice for small data sizes (10 kb), achieving SAW scores ranging from 1.073 to 1.240, PSNR values between 51.93 and 53.92 dB, and a near-perfect SSIM of 1.00. Additionally, the method demonstrates a low BER of 0.03-0.05 and an efficient processing time of approximately 1.94-1.95 seconds, ensuring excellent embedding quality with minimal distortion for small data sizes. For larger data sizes (30 kb, 50 kb, and 90 kb), the LSB-LSB and ISB-LSB approaches alternate as the most effective techniques. These methods deliver reliable embedding quality with SAW scores ranging from 0.787 to 0.954, PSNR values between 51.14 and 51.21 dB, and a consistent SSIM of 1.00. Processing times increase with data size, ranging from 2.79 to 6.38 seconds, while the BER remains stable at 0.06 for larger loads. Due to their ability to balance quality and performance, the LSB-LSB and ISB-LSB methods are better suited for embedding larger datasets.