Comparison of Digital Watermarking Methods for an Id Authentication System

Current radio-frequency identification (RFID) card authentication systems are not secure enough to fight the latest and most novel hacking methods. Poor software implementations, outdated cryptography algorithms and faulty hardware are just some of the most common ways of exploiting these systems. Research in the field of image processing and cryptography suggests that an additional authentication layer based on digital watermarking could help improve the level of security of traditional RFID cards. Unfortunately, not all watermarking methods can be implemented in an embedded device, such as the one used for RFID card systems. The aim of this work is to provide a comparison among different digital watermarking techniques that can be used to add the extra security layer required by the basic RFID card authentication systems. In this work, two widely known methods proposed by Kang et al. in 2010 and 2003, were selected as the basis to create a comparison framework for their implementation in an embedded device. Important elements such as algorithm complexity and memory occupation were measured and analyzed in order to select the best candidate for an RFID card system. The method proposed by Kang et al. in 2010 represented the option with lowest algorithmic complexity and less memory footprint, indicating that this method is the most suitable for its implementation in an authentication system.Los métodos de autenticación basados en tarjetas con tecnología RFID (del inglés, radiofrequency identification) no son lo suficientemente seguros para contrarrestar las técnicas de hackeo más novedosas y actuales. Implementaciones deficientes, algoritmos de criptografía obsoletos y errores de hardware son solo algunas de las formas más comunes para vulnerar este tipo de sistemas. Investigaciones en el área de procesamiento digital de imágenes y criptografía sugieren que una capa adicional de autenticación basada en marcas de agua digitales podría ayudar a incrementar el nivel de seguridad de las tarjetas RFID tradicionales. Desafortunadamente, no todos los métodos de marca de agua digital pueden ser implementados en un sistema embebido como el usado en los sistemas de tarjetas RFID. El objetivo de este trabajo en proveer una comparación entre diversas técnicas de marcas de agua digital que pueden ser usadas para proveer una capa de seguridad extra a los sistemas de autenticación basados en RFID. En este trabajo, dos métodos ampliamente conocidos propuestos por Kang y Cols. en el 2010 y 2003, fueron seleccionados como base para crear un marco de comparación para su implementación en un sistema embebido. Elementos importantes como complejidad algorítmica y ocupación de memoria fueron medidos y analizados para elegir el mejor candidato para un sistema de tarjetas RFID. El método propuesto por Kang y Cols. en 2010 representó la opción con la complejidad algorítmica más baja y menor ocupación de memoria, con lo que indicó que este método es el más apto para su implementación en un sistema de autenticación como el deseado.Continental AutomotiveConsejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologí

Worst Case Attack on Quantization Based Data Hiding

Currently, most quantization based data hiding al-gorithms are built assuming specific distributions of at-tacks, such as additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN), uniform noise, and so on. In this paper, we prove that the worst case additive attack for quantization based data hiding is a 3-δ function. We derive the expression for the probability of error (Pe) in terms of distortion compensation factor, α, and the attack distribution. By maximizing Pe with respect to the attack distribution, we get the optimal placement of the 3-δ function. We then experimentally verify that the 3-δ function is in-deed the worst case attack for quantization based data hiding.

Image adaptive watermarking using wavelet transform

The availability of versatile multimedia processing software and the far-reaching coverage of the interconnected networks have facilitated flawless copying, manipulations and distribution of the digital multimedia (digital video, audio, text, and images). The ever-advancing storage and retrieval technologies have also smoothed the way for large-scale multimedia database applications. However, abuses of these facilities and technologies pose pressing threats to multimedia security management in general, and multimedia copyright protection and content integrity verification in particular. Although cryptography has a long history of application to information and multimedia security, the undesirable characteristic of providing no protection to the media once decrypted has limited the feasibility of its widespread use. For example, an adversary can obtain the decryption key by purchasing a legal copy of the media but then redistribute the decrypted copies of the original. In response to these challenges; digital watermarking techniques have been proposed in the last decade. Digital watermarking is the procedure whereby secret information (the watermark) is embedded into the host multimedia content, such that it is: (1) hidden, i.e., not perceptually visible; and (2) recoverable, even after the content is degraded by different attacks such as filtering, JPEG compression, noise, cropping etc. The two basic requirements for an effective watermarking scheme, imperceptibility and robustness, conflict with each other. The main focus of this thesis is to provide good tradeoff between perceptual quality of the watermarked image and its robustness against different attacks. For this purpose, we have discussed two robust digital watermarking techniques in discrete wavelet (DWT) domain. One is fusion based watermarking, and other is spread spectrum based watermarking. Both the techniques are image adaptive and employ a contrast sensitivity based human visual system (HVS) model. The HVS models give us a direct way to determine the maximum strength of watermark signal that each portion of an image can tolerate without affecting the visual quality of the image. In fusion based watermarking technique, grayscale image (logo) is used as watermark. In watermark embedding process, both the host image and watermark image are transformed into DWT domain where their coefficients are fused according to a series combination rule that take into account contrast sensitivity characteristics of the HVS. The method repeatedly merges the watermark coefficients strongly in more salient components at the various resolution levels of the host image which provides simultaneous spatial localization and frequency spread of the watermark to provide robustness against different attacks. Watermark extraction process requires original image for watermark extraction. In spread spectrum based watermarking technique, a visually recognizable binary image is used as watermark. In watermark embedding process, the host image is transformed into DWT domain. By utilizing contrast sensitivity based HVS model, watermark bits are adaptively embedded through a pseudo-noise sequence into the middle frequency sub-bands to provide robustness against different attacks. No original image is required for watermark extraction. Simulation results of various attacks are also presented to demonstrate the robustness of both the algorithms. Simulation results verify theoretical observations and demonstrate the feasibility of the digital watermarking algorithms for use in multimedia standards

Study and Implementation of Watermarking Algorithms

Water Making is the process of embedding data called a watermark into a multimedia object such that watermark can be detected or extracted later to make an assertion about the object. The object may be an audio, image or video. A copy of a digital image is identical to the original. This has in many instances, led to the use of digital content with malicious intent. One way to protect multimedia data against illegal recording and retransmission is to embed a signal, called digital signature or copyright label or watermark that authenticates the owner of the data. Data hiding, schemes to embed secondary data in digital media, have made considerable progress in recent years and attracted attention from both academia and industry. Techniques have been proposed for a variety of applications, including ownership protection, authentication and access control. Imperceptibility, robustness against moderate processing such as compression, and the ability to hide many bits are the basic but rat..

Digital Watermarking of Images towards Content Protection.

With the rapid growth of the internet and digital media techniques over the last decade, multimedia data such as images, video and audio can easily be copied, altered and distributed over the internet without any loss in quality. Therefore, protection of ownership of multimedia data has become a very significant and challenging issue. Three novel image watermarking algorithms have been designed and implemented for copyright protection. The first proposed algorithm is based on embedding multiple watermarks in the blue channel of colour images to achieve more robustness against attacks. The second proposed algorithm aims to achieve better trade-offs between imperceptibility and robustness requirements of a digital watermarking system. It embeds a watermark in adaptive manner via classification of DCT blocks with three levels: smooth, edges and texture, implemented in the DCT domain by analyzing the values of AC coefficients. The third algorithm aims to achieve robustness against geometric attacks, which can desynchronize the location of the watermark and hence cause incorrect watermark detection. It uses geometrically invariant feature points and image normalization to overcome the problem of synchronization errors caused by geometric attacks. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithms are robust and outperform related techniques found in literature