Training CNNs in Presence of JPEG Compression: Multimedia Forensics vs Computer Vision

Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have proved very accurate in multiple computer vision image classification tasks that required visual inspection in the past (e.g., object recognition, face detection, etc.). Motivated by these astonishing results, researchers have also started using CNNs to cope with image forensic problems (e.g., camera model identification, tampering detection, etc.). However, in computer vision, image classification methods typically rely on visual cues easily detectable by human eyes. Conversely, forensic solutions rely on almost invisible traces that are often very subtle and lie in the fine details of the image under analysis. For this reason, training a CNN to solve a forensic task requires some special care, as common processing operations (e.g., resampling, compression, etc.) can strongly hinder forensic traces. In this work, we focus on the effect that JPEG has on CNN training considering different computer vision and forensic image classification problems. Specifically, we consider the issues that rise from JPEG compression and misalignment of the JPEG grid. We show that it is necessary to consider these effects when generating a training dataset in order to properly train a forensic detector not losing generalization capability, whereas it is almost possible to ignore these effects for computer vision tasks

MULTIPLE JPEG COMPRESSION DETECTION THROUGH TASK-DRIVEN NON-NEGATIVE MATRIX FACTORIZATION

Due to the increasingly unbridled practice of sharing visual content on the web, tracing back past history of uploaded images is getting far from being an easy task. Nonetheless, forensic analysts might be interested in probing digital history of content published on the web to assess its authenticity. In this vein, a possible indicator of image integrity is the number of JPEG compressions a picture underwent. As a matter of fact, JPEG compression is typically operated first at image inception time directly on the acquisition device. Then, it is customary re-applied every time an image is manipulated or shared through social media. For this reason, the more the applied JPEG compressions, the more the likelihood that an image underwent some editing. In this work, we propose an algorithm to detect multiple JPEG compressions, specifically up to four coding cycles. This approach leverages the Task-driven Non-negative Matrix Factorization (TNMF) model, fed with histograms of the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) of the image under analysis. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the method if compared with the state-of-the-art, confirming this strategy as a viable solution for detecting multiple JPEG compressions

An Overview on the Generation and Detection of Synthetic and Manipulated Satellite Images

Due to the reduction of technological costs and the increase of satellites launches, satellite images are becoming more popular and easier to obtain. Besides serving benevolent purposes, satellite data can also be used for malicious reasons such as misinformation. As a matter of fact, satellite images can be easily manipulated relying on general image editing tools. Moreover, with the surge of Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) that can generate realistic synthetic imagery belonging to various domains, additional threats related to the diffusion of synthetically generated satellite images are emerging. In this paper, we review the State of the Art (SOTA) on the generation and manipulation of satellite images. In particular, we focus on both the generation of synthetic satellite imagery from scratch, and the semantic manipulation of satellite images by means of image-transfer technologies, including the transformation of images obtained from one type of sensor to another one. We also describe forensic detection techniques that have been researched so far to classify and detect synthetic image forgeries. While we focus mostly on forensic techniques explicitly tailored to the detection of AI-generated synthetic contents, we also review some methods designed for general splicing detection, which can in principle also be used to spot AI manipulate imagesComment: 25 pages, 17 figures, 5 tables, APSIPA 202