Recent advances in digital image masking techniques Future challenges and trends: a review

Abstract

Image steganography has advanced over recent decades, driven by a demand for secure, high-capacity data-hiding techniques capable of maintaining imperceptibility in digital images. This study provides a comprehensive review of steganographic techniques, highlighting recent improvements across spatial and frequency domains and innovations that integrate cryptographic methods, genetic algorithms, and machine learning to enhance security and payload capacity. The assessment reveals trade-offs between imperceptibility, capacity, and security in various methods, including least significant bit (LSB) substitution, frequency domain transformation, edge detection, and pixel intensity manipulation. This analysis identifies key research gaps in multi-criteria evaluation, PSNR reliability, and the need for enhanced methodologies in imperceptibility and robustness to withstand statistical and steganalysis attacks. By investigative these trends, this research emphasizes the importance of complementary image quality and data safety to improve effective and resilient stenographic systems.