# A Dynamic Multi-Layer Steganography Approach Based on Arabic Letters' Diacritics and Image Layers
###### Abstract  
Steganography is a widely used technique for concealing confidential data within images, videos, and audio. However, using text for steganography has not been sufficiently explored. Text-based steganography has the advantage of a low bandwidth overhead, making it a promising alternative for protecting sensitive information. Among languages, Arabic is known for its linguistic richness, making it ideal for text-based steganography. This paper proposes a robust, dynamic, and multi-layered steganography approach that uses text, encryption algorithms, and images. This approach utilizes Arabic diacritic features to hide limited-size and highly classified information. The algorithm uses several scenarios and is extensively tested to ensure the required level of security and user performance. The experimental results on actual data demonstrate the robustness of the proposed algorithm, with no noticeable impact on the carrier message (original text). Furthermore, no known potential attack can break the proposed algorithm, making it a promising solution for text-based steganography. Keywords:steganography; security and cryptography; Arabic text; text hiding; privacy +
Footnote †: journal: Medical  
On the other hand, the algorithm must ensure a coherent encoding of the secret message to protect the concealed data from damage [3]. The cover can be photo, video, audio, or text. Several scientific studies have been published recently on steganography and can be classified according to the type of cover used (Figure 2) [4]. Steganography is usually used for two primary purposes--for the protection of intellectual property and copyright (watermarking) and the concealment of confidential information. Steganography has been intensively applied to images, as it is easy to modify an image to conceal the data in a way that is imperceptible to the naked eye. As for images, most steganography algorithms change the least important bits in the image without affecting the appearance of the original image. Despite recent research efforts in text-based steganography, the majority of these studies examined applications in the English language. There are some research efforts in steganography applications in other languages, such as Persian and Urdu, but Arabic has been less well researched compared to other languages. Arabic, Persian, and Urdu are all part of the same language family and share many similarities. However, there are some differences in the way diacritics are used in these languages. In Arabic, diacritics are used to indicate short vowels and other linguistic features. There are three basic diacritics in Arabic: Fatha, Kasrah and Dammah. These diacritics are used to indicate the pronunciation of Arabic words and are an important part of learning to read and write the language. On the other hand, Persian diacritics are used less frequently than in Arabic. Persian also does not have a system of short vowels like Arabic. Similarly, Urdu, like Persian, uses diacritics less frequently than Arabic. Overall, while all three languages use diacritics to some extent, their heavy usage and varied purposes in Arabic provide more variations and options to embed secrets. Hence, this paper focuses on steganography using Arabic, as it is one of the richest living languages [5]. The Arabic language differs from other natural languages; the pronunciation of words and letters is based not only on the position of the letters in the word but also on the word's position in the context of the sentence. For this reason, in the seventh century, [PERSON], an Arab linguist, introduced diacritical marks on letters to distinguish them from one another [6]. Table 1 shows an example of some Arabic diacritics and how the letters are pronounced based on the assigned diacritics.