A novel data hiding method based on deoxyribonucleic acid coding

The paper proposes a new data hiding method based on deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) coding, using the Word document as carrier. The plain message becomes a cipher sequence after being encoded to a DNA sequence and encrypted by the addition operation. The cipher sequence is attached to a random DNA primer sequence and circularly shifted for finite times, then hide the whole sequence into a Word document through substituting each character’s color. The plaintext can be extracted according to the keys, and the key space is large enough to resist brute force attacks. Experimental results show the feasibility of the scheme.

Graphical abstractThe embedding process for one character in plaintext.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slideHighlights► A new data hiding method based on DNA coding, using the Word document or PDF file as carrier. ► Encode the plaintext to DNA sequence, encrypt and attach it to DNA primer sequence. ► Circularly shift the sequence for finite times. ► Hide the sequence in host file through substituting each character’s LSB of three color components.