Improved pair-wise LSB matching steganography with a new evaluating system

In this paper, a novel steganographic method is proposed which is based on the spatial domain: Least Significant Bit (LSB). The LSB matching method proposed by Mielikainen utilizes a binary function to reduce the number of changed pixel values. While in this paper a bipolar evaluating system is proposed to assess the performance of different orders for LSB matching. Afterward a genetic algorithm strategy is employed to search for an optimal solution among all the permutation orders. The experimental results show that by employing the proposed bipolar evaluating system, the distortion of the stego-image is reduced while the probability of detection is decreased.