A Post-Quantum Secure Data Hiding Model Based On QC-MDPC Niederreiter Codes And LSB Embedding
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29284/r05sdf19Keywords:
Post-Quantum Cryptography, QC-MDPC Codes, Niederreiter Cryptosystem, Image Steganography, LSB Embedding.Abstract
This paper proposes a novel post-quantum secure steganographic model that integrates the Quasi-Cyclic Moderate-Density Parity-Check (QC-MDPC) Niederreiter cryptosystem with Least Significant Bit (LSB) embedding for covert communication over digital images. The proposed framework first encrypts the secret payload using the QC-MDPC Niederreiter public-key encryption scheme a code-based, lattice-free post-quantum candidate before embedding the ciphertext into the LSBs of a cover image. This dual-layer architecture ensures both perceptual imperceptibility and quantum-resistant confidentiality. The system is evaluated on the six different colour images dataset using standard steganographic metrics including Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR), Structural Similarity Index Measure (SSIM), Mean Squared Error (MSE), Bit Error Rate (BER), embedding capacity, and RGB Histogram comparison. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model achieves PSNR values 79.8697 dB, SSIM values 0.99 and negligible BER, confirming high visual fidelity and reliable data recovery. A comparative analysis with existing classical and post-quantum steganographic models affirms the superiority of the proposed approach with respect to security, imperceptibility, and computational efficiency.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
