Fast retrieval of hidden data using enhanced hidden Markov model in video steganography

• The hidden Markov model is enhanced in the proposed system for fast retrieval of hidden data from video files.
• Data embedding and retrieval processes are performed using the conditional states and state transition dynamics between the video frames.
• It enhances the retrieval data rate with minimized computation cost.

In the digital world, secure data communication has an important role in mass media and Internet technology. With the increase in modern malicious technologies, confidential data are exposed at a greater risk during data communication. For secured communication, recent technologies and the Internet have introduced steganography, a new way to hide data. Steganography is the growing practice of concealing data in multimedia files for secure data transfer. Nowadays, videos are more commonly chosen as cover media than other multimedia files because of the moving sequence of images and audio files. Despite its popularity, video steganography faces a significant challenge, which is a lack of a fast retrieval system of the hidden data. This study proposes a novel video steganography technique in which an enhanced hidden Markov model (EHMM) is employed to improve the speed of retrieving hidden data. EHMM mathematical formulations are used to enhance the speed of embedding and extracting secret data. The data embedding and retrieving operations were performed using the conditional states and the state transition dynamics between the video frames. The proposed EHMM is extensively evaluated using three benchmark functions, and experimental evaluations are conducted to test the speed of data retrieval using differently sized cover-videos. Results indicate that the proposed EHMM yields better results by reducing the data hiding time by 3–50%, improving the data retrieval rate by 22–77% with a minimum computational cost of 20–91%, and improving the security by 4–77% compared with state-of-the-art methods.

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