An ensemble of monarchy butterfly optimization based encryption techniques on image steganography for data hiding in thermal images

Information security provides a process of hiding secret information to protect the sensitive data from attackers. To achieve secure data transmission, data hiding and steganographic techniques are being developed. Image steganography is commonly employed in several areas such as telecommunication, mobile computing, online voting system, image retrieval, and privacy of patient details. Furthermore, encryption technique acts as an integral part to save the original data from illegal access. In this view, this paper presents a new monarchy butterfly optimization algorithm-based encryption with image steganography for hiding information in thermal images (MBOA-ESTI). The presented MBOA-ESTI method includes various phases of operations like ensemble of encryption, channel extraction, optimal pixel selection, embedded process, and decomposition. Then, the encryption of the images takes place by using three encryption systems Rubik's Cube Principle (RCP), Henon map (HM), and improved chaotic map (ICM). In addition, the presented MBOA-ESTI model involves multilevel discrete wavelet transform (DWT) based image decomposition process. In addition, the optimum pixel selection technique is performed using MBOA over the encrypted R, G, and B channels. For investigating the outcome of the MBOA-ESTI technique, wide-ranging experimentation was performed using MATLAB R2014a tool and the outcomes are examined interms of discrete performance measures. The experimental outcomes pointed out that the MBOA-ESTI model has resulted in an average mean square error (MSE) of 0.093, peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) of 58.46dB, and normalized cross-correlation (NCC) of 0.997.