Abstract
In this paper, we present a steganalytic method that can reliably detect messages (and estimate their size) hidden in JPEG images using the steganographic algorithm F5. The key element of the method is estimation of the cover-image histogram from the stegoimage. This is done by decompressing the stego-image, cropping it by four pixels in both directions to remove the quantization in the frequency domain, and recompressing it using the same quality factor as the stego-image. The number of relative changes introduced by F5 is determined using the least square fit by comparing the estimated histograms of selected DCT coefficients with those of the stego-image. Experimental results indicate that relative modifications as small as 10% of the usable DCT coefficients can be reliably detected. The method is tested on a diverse set of test images that include both raw and processed images in the JPEG and BMP formats.
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Fridrich, J., Goljan, M., Hogea, D. (2003). Steganalysis of JPEG Images: Breaking the F5 Algorithm. In: Petitcolas, F.A.P. (eds) Information Hiding. IH 2002. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2578. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-36415-3_20
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-36415-3_20
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