Is It Possible to Reduce the Sizes of Stegomessages in Associative Steganography?

Abstract

Associative steganography embodies a kind of symbiosis of the concepts of steganography and cryptography. The dimensions of the size of stegomessages were previously determined by the condition that the volume of bit inclusions should not exceed 1% of the volume of the media, which is typical for steganography. Accordingly, the previous studies were carried out with the size of binary matrix-standards of code symbols $m\times{n}=119\times 60$. The article discusses the importance of the so-called completeness of coverage for the durability of associative protection to a ‘‘frontal’’ attack (known as a brute-force attack). The criterion of completeness is formulated when the search is limited by the time frames of creating a database of scenes with associative protection and cryptanalysis of messages. It is shown that the completeness of the coverage with such an enumeration can also be established in the cases $n<60$ if its volume is increased accordingly. Estimates are given for reducing the size of the carrier when choosing $n=40$ and 30. It is established that the resistance to ‘‘frontal’’ attack, steganographic durability, and good noise immunity of hidden messages with this choice is maintained.