Robust Spatial-spread Deep Neural Image Watermarking

Watermarking is an operation of embedding an information into an image in a way that allows to identify ownership of the image despite applying some distortions on it. In this paper, we presented a novel end-to-end solution for embedding and recovering the watermark in the digital image using convolutional neural networks. The method is based on spreading the message over the spatial domain of the image, hence reducing the "local bits per pixel" capacity. To obtain the model we used adversarial training and applied noiser layers between the encoder and the decoder. Moreover, we broadened the spectrum of typically considered attacks on the watermark and by grouping the attacks according to their scope, we achieved high general robustness, most notably against JPEG compression, Gaussian blurring, subsampling or resizing. To help us in the models training we also proposed a precise differentiable approximation of JPEG.Comment: The article was accepted on TrustCom 2020: The 19th IEEE International Conference on Trust, Security and Privacy in Computing and Communication

BlessMark: A Blind Diagnostically-Lossless Watermarking Framework for Medical Applications Based on Deep Neural Networks

Nowadays, with the development of public network usage, medical information is transmitted throughout the hospitals. The watermarking system can help for the confidentiality of medical information distributed over the internet. In medical images, regions-of-interest (ROI) contain diagnostic information. The watermark should be embedded only into non-regions-of-interest (NROI) to keep diagnostic information without distortion. Recently, ROI based watermarking has attracted the attention of the medical research community. The ROI map can be used as an embedding key for improving confidentiality protection purposes. However, in most existing works, the ROI map that is used for the embedding process must be sent as side-information along with the watermarked image. This side information is a disadvantage and makes the extraction process non-blind. Also, most existing algorithms do not recover NROI of the original cover image after the extraction of the watermark. In this paper, we propose a framework for blind diagnostically-lossless watermarking, which iteratively embeds only into NROI. The significance of the proposed framework is in satisfying the confidentiality of the patient information through a blind watermarking system, while it preserves diagnostic/medical information of the image throughout the watermarking process. A deep neural network is used to recognize the ROI map in the embedding, extraction, and recovery processes. In the extraction process, the same ROI map of the embedding process is recognized without requiring any additional information. Hence, the watermark is blindly extracted from the NROI.Comment: Drs. Soroushmehr and Najarian declared that they had not contributions to the paper. I removed their name

TRLF: An Effective Semi-fragile Watermarking Method for Tamper Detection and Recovery based on LWT and FNN

This paper proposes a novel method for tamper detection and recovery using semi-fragile data hiding, based on Lifting Wavelet Transform (LWT) and Feed-Forward Neural Network (FNN). In TRLF, first, the host image is decomposed up to one level using LWT, and the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) is applied to each 2*2 blocks of diagonal details. Next, a random binary sequence is embedded in each block as the watermark by correlating $DC$ coefficients. In authentication stage, first, the watermarked image geometry is reconstructed by using Speeded Up Robust Features (SURF) algorithm and extract watermark bits by using FNN. Afterward, logical exclusive-or operation between original and extracted watermark is applied to detect tampered region. Eventually, in the recovery stage, tampered regions are recovered by image digest which is generated by inverse halftoning technique. The performance and efficiency of TRLF and its robustness against various geometric, non-geometric and hybrid attacks are reported. From the experimental results, it can be seen that TRLF is superior in terms of robustness and quality of the digest and watermarked image respectively, compared to the-state-of-the-art fragile and semi-fragile watermarking methods. In addition, imperceptibility has been improved by using different correlation steps as the gain factor for flat (smooth) and texture (rough) blocks

Watermark retrieval from 3D printed objects via synthetic data training

We present a deep neural network based method for the retrieval of watermarks from images of 3D printed objects. To deal with the variability of all possible 3D printing and image acquisition settings we train the network with synthetic data. The main simulator parameters such as texture, illumination and camera position are dynamically randomized in non-realistic ways, forcing the neural network to learn the intrinsic features of the 3D printed watermarks. At the end of the pipeline, the watermark, in the form of a two-dimensional bit array, is retrieved through a series of simple image processing and statistical operations applied on the confidence map generated by the neural network. The results demonstrate that the inclusion of synthetic DR data in the training set increases the generalization power of the network, which performs better on images from previously unseen 3D printed objects. We conclude that in our application domain of information retrieval from 3D printed objects, where access to the exact CAD files of the printed objects can be assumed, one can use inexpensive synthetic data to enhance neural network training, reducing the need for the labour intensive process of creating large amounts of hand labelled real data or the need to generate photorealistic synthetic data

Digital Passport: A Novel Technological Strategy for Intellectual Property Protection of Convolutional Neural Networks

In order to prevent deep neural networks from being infringed by unauthorized parties, we propose a generic solution which embeds a designated digital passport into a network, and subsequently, either paralyzes the network functionalities for unauthorized usages or maintain its functionalities in the presence of a verified passport. Such a desired network behavior is successfully demonstrated in a number of implementation schemes, which provide reliable, preventive and timely protections against tens of thousands of fake-passport deceptions. Extensive experiments also show that the deep neural network performance under unauthorized usages deteriorate significantly (e.g. with 33% to 82% reductions of CIFAR10 classification accuracies), while networks endorsed with valid passports remain intact.Comment: This paper proposes a new timely IPR solution that embed digital passports into CNN models to prevent the unauthorized network usage (i.e. infringement) by paralyzing the networks while maintaining its functionality for verified user

HiDDeN: Hiding Data With Deep Networks

Recent work has shown that deep neural networks are highly sensitive to tiny perturbations of input images, giving rise to adversarial examples. Though this property is usually considered a weakness of learned models, we explore whether it can be beneficial. We find that neural networks can learn to use invisible perturbations to encode a rich amount of useful information. In fact, one can exploit this capability for the task of data hiding. We jointly train encoder and decoder networks, where given an input message and cover image, the encoder produces a visually indistinguishable encoded image, from which the decoder can recover the original message. We show that these encodings are competitive with existing data hiding algorithms, and further that they can be made robust to noise: our models learn to reconstruct hidden information in an encoded image despite the presence of Gaussian blurring, pixel-wise dropout, cropping, and JPEG compression. Even though JPEG is non-differentiable, we show that a robust model can be trained using differentiable approximations. Finally, we demonstrate that adversarial training improves the visual quality of encoded images

The Robust Digital Image Watermarking using Quantization and Fuzzy Logic Approach in DWT Domain

In this paper a novel approach to embed watermark into the host image using quantization with the help of Dynamic Fuzzy Inference System (DFIS) is proposed. The cover image is decomposed up to 3- levels using quantization and Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT). A bitmap of size 64x64 pixels is embedded into the host image using DFIS rule base. The DFIS is utilized to generate the watermark weighting function to embed the imperceptible watermark. The implemented watermarking algorithm is imperceptible and robust to some normal attacks such as JPEG Compression, salt&pepper noise, median filtering, rotation and cropping. Keywords: Watermark, Quantization, Dynamic Fuzzy Inference System, Imperceptible, Robust, JPEG Compression, Cropping.Comment: 7 pages, 11 figures, IJCSN Journa

Neural Imaging Pipelines - the Scourge or Hope of Forensics?

Forensic analysis of digital photographs relies on intrinsic statistical traces introduced at the time of their acquisition or subsequent editing. Such traces are often removed by post-processing (e.g., down-sampling and re-compression applied upon distribution in the Web) which inhibits reliable provenance analysis. Increasing adoption of computational methods within digital cameras further complicates the process and renders explicit mathematical modeling infeasible. While this trend challenges forensic analysis even in near-acquisition conditions, it also creates new opportunities. This paper explores end-to-end optimization of the entire image acquisition and distribution workflow to facilitate reliable forensic analysis at the end of the distribution channel, where state-of-the-art forensic techniques fail. We demonstrate that a neural network can be trained to replace the entire photo development pipeline, and jointly optimized for high-fidelity photo rendering and reliable provenance analysis. Such optimized neural imaging pipeline allowed us to increase image manipulation detection accuracy from approx. 45% to over 90%. The network learns to introduce carefully crafted artifacts, akin to digital watermarks, which facilitate subsequent manipulation detection. Analysis of performance trade-offs indicates that most of the gains can be obtained with only minor distortion. The findings encourage further research towards building more reliable imaging pipelines with explicit provenance-guaranteeing properties.Comment: Manuscript + supplement; currently under review; compressed figures to minimize file size. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1812.0151

A Color Image Digital Watermarking Scheme Based on SOFM

Digital watermarking technique has been presented and widely researched to solve some important issues in the digital world, such as copyright protection, copy protection and content authentication. Several robust watermarking schemes based on vector quantization (VQ) have been presented. In this paper, we present a new digital image watermarking method based on SOFM vector quantizer for color images. This method utilizes the codebook partition technique in which the watermark bit is embedded into the selected VQ encoded block. The main feature of this scheme is that the watermark exists both in VQ compressed image and in the reconstructed image. The watermark extraction can be performed without the original image. The watermark is hidden inside the compressed image, so much transmission time and storage space can be saved when the compressed data are transmitted over the Internet. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method has robustness against various image processing operations without sacrificing compression performance and the computational speed.Comment: International Journal of Computer Science Issues online at http://www.ijcsi.or

StegaStamp: Invisible Hyperlinks in Physical Photographs

Printed and digitally displayed photos have the ability to hide imperceptible digital data that can be accessed through internet-connected imaging systems. Another way to think about this is physical photographs that have unique QR codes invisibly embedded within them. This paper presents an architecture, algorithms, and a prototype implementation addressing this vision. Our key technical contribution is StegaStamp, a learned steganographic algorithm to enable robust encoding and decoding of arbitrary hyperlink bitstrings into photos in a manner that approaches perceptual invisibility. StegaStamp comprises a deep neural network that learns an encoding/decoding algorithm robust to image perturbations approximating the space of distortions resulting from real printing and photography. We demonstrates real-time decoding of hyperlinks in photos from in-the-wild videos that contain variation in lighting, shadows, perspective, occlusion and viewing distance. Our prototype system robustly retrieves 56 bit hyperlinks after error correction - sufficient to embed a unique code within every photo on the internet.Comment: CVPR 2020, Project page: http://www.matthewtancik.com/stegastam