Statistical and information-theoretic optimization and performance bounds of video steganography

Abstract

This paper presents a novel approach to the optimization and performance bounds of video steganography. Hypothesis testing is used to derive the probability of detection and false alarm for a cooperator with a priori knowledge of a carrier signal and an attacker for whom the carrier signal is unknown. The result is then used to optimize the statistical performance of a well-known video steganography method (i.e., secure spread spectrum watermarking) while ensuring limits on the statistical performance of video steganalysis. In addition, the channel capacity for video steganography and steganalsyis are ascertained under the proposed statistical model. It is then used to characterize an optimal information-theoretic criterion for video steganography subject to performance bounds on statistical steganalysis. Theoretical and numerical results demonstrate the consistency of both the statistical and information-theoretic approaches to the optimization of video steganography.