Deep learning for steganalysis of diverse data types: A review of methods, taxonomy, challenges and future directions

Steganography and steganalysis are two interrelated aspects of the field of information security. Steganography seeks to conceal communications, whereas steganalysis aims to discover or, if possible, recover the data they contain. These two areas have garnered significant interest, especially among law enforcement agencies. Cybercriminals and even terrorists often employ steganography to avoid detection while in possession of incriminating evidence, even when that evidence is encrypted, since cryptography is prohibited or restricted in many countries. Therefore, a deep understanding of cutting-edge techniques for uncovering concealed information is essential in exposing illegal activities. Over the last few years, a number of strong and reliable steganography and steganalysis techniques have been introduced in the literature. This review paper provides a comprehensive overview of deep learning-based steganalysis techniques used to detect hidden information within digital media. The paper covers all types of cover in steganalysis, including image, audio, and video, and discusses the most commonly used deep learning techniques. In addition, the paper explores the use of more advanced deep learning techniques, such as deep transfer learning (DTL) and deep reinforcement learning (DRL), to enhance the performance of steganalysis systems. The paper provides a systematic review of recent research in the field, including data sets and evaluation metrics used in recent studies. It also presents a detailed analysis of DTL-based steganalysis approaches and their performance on different data sets. The review concludes with a discussion on the current state of deep learning-based steganalysis, challenges, and future research directions.