Time-Based Steganography in Text

Ghoraeian, Zahra; Sadeghi, Mohammad Reza; Mashhadi, Samaneh

doi:10.22042/isecure.2026.242053

Time-Based Steganography in Text

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

Zahra Ghoraeian ¹

Mohammad Reza Sadeghi ¹

Samaneh Mashhadi ²

¹ Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Amirkabir University of Technology – Tehran Polytechnic, Tehran, Iran.

² School of Mathematics and Computer Science, Iran University of Science and Technology, Narmak, Tehran, Iran.

https://doi.org/10.22042/isecure.2026.242053

Abstract

Preserving data confidentiality is crucial in today’s digital world where data exchange is increasingly becoming digital. This paper presents a novel text steganography algorithm. Initially, the secret message is converted into a bit stream. This bit stream is then shuffled using a random sequence to enhance security. Finally, the data is converted into a specific ”time” (including date and hour), and this generated time is embedded within a suitable cover text. The results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is robust against a variety of attacks, including retyping, OCR, printing and photocopying, compression, document feature modification, non-Unicode environment conversion, and semantic paraphrasing. The algorithm is language-independent and applicable to all languages. The scheme exhibits high transparency against visual and machine attacks and has a capacity of 18 bits per time. The embedding of information bits using a random sequence enhances the scheme’s resistance against detection attacks.

Keywords

Data Confidentiality

Data Hiding

Information Security

Text Steganography

Text Watermarking

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