Video Steganography Technique Based on Enhanced Moving Objects Detection Method

مقدمة: أصبح إخفاء المعلومات عن طريق الفيديو خيارًا شائعًا لحماية البيانات السرية من محاولات القرصنة والهجمات الشائعة على الإنترنت. ومع ذلك ، عند استخدام إطار (إطارات) الفيديو بالكامل لتضمين بيانات سرية ، فقد يؤدي ذلك إلى تشويه بصري. طرق العمل: هذا العمل هو محاولة لإخفاء صورة سرية حساسة داخل الأجسام المتحركة في مقطع فيديو بناءً على فصل الكائن عن خلفية الإطار واختيارها وترتيبها حسب حجم الكائن لتضمين الصورة السرية. يتم استخدام تقنية XOR مع البتات العكسية بين بتات الصورة السرية وبتات الكائن المتحرك المكتشفة للتضمين. توفر الطريقة المقترحة مزيدًا من الأمان وعدم الإدراك حيث يتم استخدام الكائنات المتحركة للتضمين ، لذلك من الصعب ملاحظة التغييرات في الكائنات المتحركة بدلاً من استخدام منطقة الخلفية للتضمين في الفيديو. تم إجراء مزيد من التطوير للطريقة المقترحة في مجال إخفاء المعلومات بالفيديو من خلال تطبيق النموذج المكاني مع النموذج الإحصائي. تم أيضًا تطبيق أنماط LSB الإضافية لتقييم قدرة النهج المقترح في اكتشاف الأجسام المتحركة. بالإضافة إلى تقييم متانة الطريقة المقترحة ضد الهجمات المختلفة مثل ضوضاء الملح والفلفل والتصفية المتوسطة. الاستنتاجات: أظهرت النتائج التجريبية جودة بصرية أفضل لفيديو stego مع قيم PSNR تتجاوز 70 ديسيبل ، وهذا يشير إلى أن الطريقة المقترحة تعمل دون إحداث تشويه كبير في الفيديو الأصلي والرسالة السرية المرسلة.Video steganography has become a popular option for protecting secret data from hacking attempts and common attacks on the internet. However, when the whole video frame(s) are used to embed secret data, this may lead to visual distortion. Materials and Methods: This work is an attempt to hide sensitive secret image inside the moving objects in a video based on separating the object from the background of the frame, selecting and arranging them according to object's size for embedding secret image. The proposed approach reverses the secret image bits and uses XOR technique between the reversed bits and the detected moving object bits for embedding. The proposed approach provides more security and imperceptibility as the moving objects are used for embedding, so it is difficult to notice the changes in the moving objects instead of using background area for embedding in the video. Further development to the proposed approach in the area of video steganography has been done by applying spatial model in combination with statistical model. Additional LSB styles have been also applied to evaluate the ability of the proposed approach in detecting moving objects. In addition to evaluating the robustness of the proposed approach against different attacks such as salt and pepper noise and median filtering. Results: The experimental results showed the better visual quality of the stego video with PSNR values exceeding 70 dB, this indicates that the proposed method works without causing much distortion in the original video and transmitted secret message. Conclusion: The experimental proof of the proposed approach can successfully detect and embed secret image. Also, it provides more security and imperceptibility as the data was hidden in the moving objects and the updates in the moving objects are difficult to notice rather than the static region in a vide

PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF DIFFERENT SCHEMES FOR TRANSMISSION OF WATERMARKED MEDICAL IMAGES OVER FADING CHANNELS

ABSTRACT Performance Analysis of Different Schemes for Transmission of Watermarked Medical images over Fading Channels Praveen Kumar Korrai In this thesis, we investigate different types of robust schemes for transmission of medical images with concealed patient information as a watermark. In these schemes, spatial domain digital watermarking technique is adapted to embed the patient information as a watermark into the lower order bits of the medical images to reduce the storage and transmission overheads. The watermark, which comprises text data, is encrypted to prevent unauthorized access of data. To enhance the robustness of the embedded information, the encrypted watermark is coded by concatenation of Reed Solomon (RS) and low density parity check (LDPC) codes. A robust scheme for transmission of watermarked images over impulsive noisy wireless channels is first proposed and its performance analyzed. In this scheme, the bursty wireless channel is simulated by adding impulse noise to the watermark embedded image. Furthermore, turbo channel coding is used to correct the transmission errors over impulsive noisy wireless channels. However, single input single output (SISO) channel capacity is not enough to provide modern wireless services such as data and multimedia messaging services. Further, it is not reliable due to multipath fading. To overcome these problems, a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission scheme in which multiple antennas are used at both the transmitter and the receiver has emerged as one of the most significant technical breakthroughs in modern wireless communications. MIMO can improve the channel capacity and provide diversity gain. Hence, a scheme with a MIMO channel is proposed for the transmission of watermarked medical images over Rayleigh flat fading channels and its performance analyzed using MIMO maximum likelihood detector at the receiver. We present another scheme, namely, MIMO space frequency block coded OFDM (MIMO SFBC OFDM) in this thesis for transmission of watermarked medical images over Rayleigh fading channels to mitigate the detrimental effects due to frequency selective fading. The performance of this MIMO SFBC OFDM scheme is analyzed and compared with that of SISO-OFDM using minimum mean square error V-BLAST- based detection at the receiver. The efficacy of the different proposed schemes is illustrated through implementation results on watermarked medical images

Design of a secure architecture for the exchange of biomedical information in m-Health scenarios

El paradigma de m-Salud (salud móvil) aboga por la integración masiva de las más avanzadas tecnologías de comunicación, red móvil y sensores en aplicaciones y sistemas de salud, para fomentar el despliegue de un nuevo modelo de atención clínica centrada en el usuario/paciente. Este modelo tiene por objetivos el empoderamiento de los usuarios en la gestión de su propia salud (p.ej. aumentando sus conocimientos, promocionando estilos de vida saludable y previniendo enfermedades), la prestación de una mejor tele-asistencia sanitaria en el hogar para ancianos y pacientes crónicos y una notable disminución del gasto de los Sistemas de Salud gracias a la reducción del número y la duración de las hospitalizaciones. No obstante, estas ventajas, atribuidas a las aplicaciones de m-Salud, suelen venir acompañadas del requisito de un alto grado de disponibilidad de la información biomédica de sus usuarios para garantizar una alta calidad de servicio, p.ej. fusionar varias señales de un usuario para obtener un diagnóstico más preciso. La consecuencia negativa de cumplir esta demanda es el aumento directo de las superficies potencialmente vulnerables a ataques, lo que sitúa a la seguridad (y a la privacidad) del modelo de m-Salud como factor crítico para su éxito. Como requisito no funcional de las aplicaciones de m-Salud, la seguridad ha recibido menos atención que otros requisitos técnicos que eran más urgentes en etapas de desarrollo previas, tales como la robustez, la eficiencia, la interoperabilidad o la usabilidad. Otro factor importante que ha contribuido a retrasar la implementación de políticas de seguridad sólidas es que garantizar un determinado nivel de seguridad implica unos costes que pueden ser muy relevantes en varias dimensiones, en especial en la económica (p.ej. sobrecostes por la inclusión de hardware extra para la autenticación de usuarios), en el rendimiento (p.ej. reducción de la eficiencia y de la interoperabilidad debido a la integración de elementos de seguridad) y en la usabilidad (p.ej. configuración más complicada de dispositivos y aplicaciones de salud debido a las nuevas opciones de seguridad). Por tanto, las soluciones de seguridad que persigan satisfacer a todos los actores del contexto de m-Salud (usuarios, pacientes, personal médico, personal técnico, legisladores, fabricantes de dispositivos y equipos, etc.) deben ser robustas y al mismo tiempo minimizar sus costes asociados. Esta Tesis detalla una propuesta de seguridad, compuesta por cuatro grandes bloques interconectados, para dotar de seguridad a las arquitecturas de m-Salud con unos costes reducidos. El primer bloque define un esquema global que proporciona unos niveles de seguridad e interoperabilidad acordes con las características de las distintas aplicaciones de m-Salud. Este esquema está compuesto por tres capas diferenciadas, diseñadas a la medidas de los dominios de m-Salud y de sus restricciones, incluyendo medidas de seguridad adecuadas para la defensa contra las amenazas asociadas a sus aplicaciones de m-Salud. El segundo bloque establece la extensión de seguridad de aquellos protocolos estándar que permiten la adquisición, el intercambio y/o la administración de información biomédica -- por tanto, usados por muchas aplicaciones de m-Salud -- pero no reúnen los niveles de seguridad detallados en el esquema previo. Estas extensiones se concretan para los estándares biomédicos ISO/IEEE 11073 PHD y SCP-ECG. El tercer bloque propone nuevas formas de fortalecer la seguridad de los tests biomédicos, que constituyen el elemento esencial de muchas aplicaciones de m-Salud de carácter clínico, mediante codificaciones novedosas. Finalmente el cuarto bloque, que se sitúa en paralelo a los anteriores, selecciona herramientas genéricas de seguridad (elementos de autenticación y criptográficos) cuya integración en los otros bloques resulta idónea, y desarrolla nuevas herramientas de seguridad, basadas en señal -- embedding y keytagging --, para reforzar la protección de los test biomédicos.The paradigm of m-Health (mobile health) advocates for the massive integration of advanced mobile communications, network and sensor technologies in healthcare applications and systems to foster the deployment of a new, user/patient-centered healthcare model enabling the empowerment of users in the management of their health (e.g. by increasing their health literacy, promoting healthy lifestyles and the prevention of diseases), a better home-based healthcare delivery for elderly and chronic patients and important savings for healthcare systems due to the reduction of hospitalizations in number and duration. It is a fact that many m-Health applications demand high availability of biomedical information from their users (for further accurate analysis, e.g. by fusion of various signals) to guarantee high quality of service, which on the other hand entails increasing the potential surfaces for attacks. Therefore, it is not surprising that security (and privacy) is commonly included among the most important barriers for the success of m-Health. As a non-functional requirement for m-Health applications, security has received less attention than other technical issues that were more pressing at earlier development stages, such as reliability, eficiency, interoperability or usability. Another fact that has contributed to delaying the enforcement of robust security policies is that guaranteeing a certain security level implies costs that can be very relevant and that span along diferent dimensions. These include budgeting (e.g. the demand of extra hardware for user authentication), performance (e.g. lower eficiency and interoperability due to the addition of security elements) and usability (e.g. cumbersome configuration of devices and applications due to security options). Therefore, security solutions that aim to satisfy all the stakeholders in the m-Health context (users/patients, medical staff, technical staff, systems and devices manufacturers, regulators, etc.) shall be robust and, at the same time, minimize their associated costs. This Thesis details a proposal, composed of four interrelated blocks, to integrate appropriate levels of security in m-Health architectures in a cost-efcient manner. The first block designes a global scheme that provides different security and interoperability levels accordingto how critical are the m-Health applications to be implemented. This consists ofthree layers tailored to the m-Health domains and their constraints, whose security countermeasures defend against the threats of their associated m-Health applications. Next, the second block addresses the security extension of those standard protocols that enable the acquisition, exchange and/or management of biomedical information | thus, used by many m-Health applications | but do not meet the security levels described in the former scheme. These extensions are materialized for the biomedical standards ISO/IEEE 11073 PHD and SCP-ECG. Then, the third block proposes new ways of enhancing the security of biomedical standards, which are the centerpiece of many clinical m-Health applications, by means of novel codings. Finally the fourth block, with is parallel to the others, selects generic security methods (for user authentication and cryptographic protection) whose integration in the other blocks results optimal, and also develops novel signal-based methods (embedding and keytagging) for strengthening the security of biomedical tests. The layer-based extensions of the standards ISO/IEEE 11073 PHD and SCP-ECG can be considered as robust, cost-eficient and respectful with their original features and contents. The former adds no attributes to its data information model, four new frames to the service model |and extends four with new sub-frames|, and only one new sub-state to the communication model. Furthermore, a lightweight architecture consisting of a personal health device mounting a 9 MHz processor and an aggregator mounting a 1 GHz processor is enough to transmit a 3-lead electrocardiogram in real-time implementing the top security layer. The extra requirements associated to this extension are an initial configuration of the health device and the aggregator, tokens for identification/authentication of users if these devices are to be shared and the implementation of certain IHE profiles in the aggregator to enable the integration of measurements in healthcare systems. As regards to the extension of SCP-ECG, it only adds a new section with selected security elements and syntax in order to protect the rest of file contents and provide proper role-based access control. The overhead introduced in the protected SCP-ECG is typically 2{13 % of the regular file size, and the extra delays to protect a newly generated SCP-ECG file and to access it for interpretation are respectively a 2{10 % and a 5 % of the regular delays. As regards to the signal-based security techniques developed, the embedding method is the basis for the proposal of a generic coding for tests composed of biomedical signals, periodic measurements and contextual information. This has been adjusted and evaluated with electrocardiogram and electroencephalogram-based tests, proving the objective clinical quality of the coded tests, the capacity of the coding-access system to operate in real-time (overall delays of 2 s for electrocardiograms and 3.3 s for electroencephalograms) and its high usability. Despite of the embedding of security and metadata to enable m-Health services, the compression ratios obtained by this coding range from ' 3 in real-time transmission to ' 5 in offline operation. Complementarily, keytagging permits associating information to images (and other signals) by means of keys in a secure and non-distorting fashion, which has been availed to implement security measures such as image authentication, integrity control and location of tampered areas, private captioning with role-based access control, traceability and copyright protection. The tests conducted indicate a remarkable robustness-capacity tradeoff that permits implementing all this measures simultaneously, and the compatibility of keytagging with JPEG2000 compression, maintaining this tradeoff while setting the overall keytagging delay in only ' 120 ms for any image size | evidencing the scalability of this technique. As a general conclusion, it has been demonstrated and illustrated with examples that there are various, complementary and structured manners to contribute in the implementation of suitable security levels for m-Health architectures with a moderate cost in budget, performance, interoperability and usability. The m-Health landscape is evolving permanently along all their dimensions, and this Thesis aims to do so with its security. Furthermore, the lessons learned herein may offer further guidance for the elaboration of more comprehensive and updated security schemes, for the extension of other biomedical standards featuring low emphasis on security or privacy, and for the improvement of the state of the art regarding signal-based protection methods and applications

Discrete Wavelet Transforms

The discrete wavelet transform (DWT) algorithms have a firm position in processing of signals in several areas of research and industry. As DWT provides both octave-scale frequency and spatial timing of the analyzed signal, it is constantly used to solve and treat more and more advanced problems. The present book: Discrete Wavelet Transforms: Algorithms and Applications reviews the recent progress in discrete wavelet transform algorithms and applications. The book covers a wide range of methods (e.g. lifting, shift invariance, multi-scale analysis) for constructing DWTs. The book chapters are organized into four major parts. Part I describes the progress in hardware implementations of the DWT algorithms. Applications include multitone modulation for ADSL and equalization techniques, a scalable architecture for FPGA-implementation, lifting based algorithm for VLSI implementation, comparison between DWT and FFT based OFDM and modified SPIHT codec. Part II addresses image processing algorithms such as multiresolution approach for edge detection, low bit rate image compression, low complexity implementation of CQF wavelets and compression of multi-component images. Part III focuses watermaking DWT algorithms. Finally, Part IV describes shift invariant DWTs, DC lossless property, DWT based analysis and estimation of colored noise and an application of the wavelet Galerkin method. The chapters of the present book consist of both tutorial and highly advanced material. Therefore, the book is intended to be a reference text for graduate students and researchers to obtain state-of-the-art knowledge on specific applications

MediaSync: Handbook on Multimedia Synchronization

This book provides an approachable overview of the most recent advances in the fascinating field of media synchronization (mediasync), gathering contributions from the most representative and influential experts. Understanding the challenges of this field in the current multi-sensory, multi-device, and multi-protocol world is not an easy task. The book revisits the foundations of mediasync, including theoretical frameworks and models, highlights ongoing research efforts, like hybrid broadband broadcast (HBB) delivery and users' perception modeling (i.e., Quality of Experience or QoE), and paves the way for the future (e.g., towards the deployment of multi-sensory and ultra-realistic experiences). Although many advances around mediasync have been devised and deployed, this area of research is getting renewed attention to overcome remaining challenges in the next-generation (heterogeneous and ubiquitous) media ecosystem. Given the significant advances in this research area, its current relevance and the multiple disciplines it involves, the availability of a reference book on mediasync becomes necessary. This book fills the gap in this context. In particular, it addresses key aspects and reviews the most relevant contributions within the mediasync research space, from different perspectives. Mediasync: Handbook on Multimedia Synchronization is the perfect companion for scholars and practitioners that want to acquire strong knowledge about this research area, and also approach the challenges behind ensuring the best mediated experiences, by providing the adequate synchronization between the media elements that constitute these experiences

Intelligent Circuits and Systems

ICICS-2020 is the third conference initiated by the School of Electronics and Electrical Engineering at Lovely Professional University that explored recent innovations of researchers working for the development of smart and green technologies in the fields of Energy, Electronics, Communications, Computers, and Control. ICICS provides innovators to identify new opportunities for the social and economic benefits of society.　 This conference bridges the gap between academics and R&D institutions, social visionaries, and experts from all strata of society to present their ongoing research activities and foster research relations between them. It provides opportunities for the exchange of new ideas, applications, and experiences in the field of smart technologies and finding global partners for future collaboration. The ICICS-2020 was conducted in two broad categories, Intelligent Circuits & Intelligent Systems and Emerging Technologies in Electrical Engineering

Continuous Authentication of Users to Robotic Technologies Using Behavioural Biometrics

Collaborative robots and current human–robot interaction systems, such as exoskeletons and teleoperation, are key technologies with profiles that make them likely security targets. Without sufficient protection, these robotics technologies might become dangerous tools that are capable of causing damage to their environments, increasing defects in work pieces and harming human co-workers. As robotics is a critical component of the current automation drive in many advanced economies, there may be serious economic effects if robot security is not appropriately handled. The development of suitable security for robots, particularly in industrial contexts, is critical. Collaborative robots, exoskeletons and teleoperation are all examples of robotics technologies that might need close collaboration with humans, and these interactions must be appropriately protected. There is a need to guard against both external hackers (as with many industrial systems) and insider malfeasance. Only authorised users should be able to access robots, and they should use only those services and capabilities they are qualified to access (e.g. those for which they are appropriately cleared and trained). Authentication is therefore a crucial enabling mechanism. Robot interaction will largely be ongoing, so continuous rather than one-time authentication is required. In robot contexts, continuous biometrics can be used to provide effective and practical authentication of individuals to robots. In particular, the working behaviour of human co-workers as they interact with robots can be used as a means of biometric authentication. This thesis demonstrates how continuous biometric authentication can be used in three different environments: a direct physical manipulation application, a sensor glove application and a remote access application. We show how information acquired from the collaborative robot's internal sensors, wearable sensors (similar to those found in an exoskeleton), and teleoperated robot control and programming can be harnessed to provide appropriate authentication. Thus, all authentication uses data that are collected or generated as part of the co-worker simply going about their work. No additional action is needed. For manufacturing environments, this lack of intrusiveness is an important feature. The results presented in this thesis show that our approaches can discriminate appropriately between users. We believe that our machine learning-based approaches can provide reasonable and practical solutions for continually authenticating users to robots in many environments, particularly in manufacturing contexts

Security and Privacy for the Modern World

The world is organized around technology that does not respect its users. As a precondition of participation in digital life, users cede control of their data to third-parties with murky motivations, and cannot ensure this control is not mishandled or abused. In this work, we create secure, privacy-respecting computing for the average user by giving them the tools to guarantee their data is shielded from prying eyes. We first uncover the side channels present when outsourcing scientific computation to the cloud, and address them by building a data-oblivious virtual environment capable of efficiently handling these workloads. Then, we explore stronger privacy protections for interpersonal communication through practical steganography, using it to hide sensitive messages in realistic cover distributions like English text. Finally, we discuss at-home cryptography, and leverage it to bind a user’s access to their online services and important files to a secure location, such as their smart home. This line of research represents a new model of digital life, one that is both full-featured and protected against the security and privacy threats of the modern world