Steganography using dual tree complex wavelet transform with LSB indicator technique

Image steganography is undoubtedly significant in the field of secure multimedia communication. The undetectability and high payload capacity are two of the important characteristics of any form of steganography. In this paper, the level of image security is improved by combining the steganography and cryptography techniques in order to produce the secured image. The proposed method depends on using LSBs as an indicator for hiding encrypted bits in dual tree complex wavelet coefficient DT-CWT. The cover image is divided into non overlapping blocks of size (3*3). After that, a Key is produced by extracting the center pixel (pc) from each block to encrypt each character in the secret text. The cover image is converted using DT-CWT, then the produced key is used to determine the starting pixel in each block for hiding and the direction of hiding (clockwise or anticlockwise). The proposed method is applied on many images with different embedding rate, and many metrics are used to evaluate the performance of the proposed method such as Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR), Mean Square Error (MSE), correlation factor (CF) and Structural Similarity Index Measure (SSIM). It achieves in average 52.225 dB of PSNR, 0.3215 of MSE, 0.9952 of SSIM and 0.9997 of CF with embedding rate 1.5

Robust digital image watermarking algorithms for copyright protection

Digital watermarking has been proposed as a solution to the problem of resolving copyright ownership of multimedia data (image, audio, video). The work presented in this thesis is concerned with the design of robust digital image watermarking algorithms for copyright protection. Firstly, an overview of the watermarking system, applications of watermarks as well as the survey of current watermarking algorithms and attacks, are given. Further, the implementation of feature point detectors in the field of watermarking is introduced. A new class of scale invariant feature point detectors is investigated and it is showed that they have excellent performances required for watermarking. The robustness of the watermark on geometrical distortions is very important issue in watermarking. In order to detect the parameters of undergone affine transformation, we propose an image registration technique which is based on use of the scale invariant feature point detector. Another proposed technique for watermark synchronization is also based on use of scale invariant feature point detector. This technique does not use the original image to determine the parameters of affine transformation which include rotation and scaling. It is experimentally confirmed that this technique gives excellent results under tested geometrical distortions. In the thesis, two different watermarking algorithms are proposed in the wavelet domain. The first algorithm belongs to the class of additive watermarking algorithms which requires the presence of original image for watermark detection. Using this algorithm the influence of different error correction codes on the watermark robustness is investigated. The second algorithm does not require the original image for watermark detection. The robustness of this algorithm is tested on various filtering and compression attacks. This algorithm is successfully combined with the aforementioned synchronization technique in order to achieve the robustness on geometrical attacks. The last watermarking algorithm presented in the thesis is developed in complex wavelet domain. The complex wavelet transform is described and its advantages over the conventional discrete wavelet transform are highlighted. The robustness of the proposed algorithm was tested on different class of attacks. Finally, in the thesis the conclusion is given and the main future research directions are suggested

Stegacryption of DICOM Metadata

Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) files are an international data standard for storing, distributing and processing medical images of all types. DICOM files include a header file containing Metadata on details which may include information on the patient. This often inhibits the free distribution of DICOM files due to issues relating to the confidentiality of data on identifiable living people, thereby limiting the potential for other radiologists to provide a diagnosis, for example, through distribution of the data over the Internet. This problem is a current limiting condition with regard to the development of Tele-medical imaging. Thus in this paper we consider a method of encrypting and embedding (or Stegacrypting) DICOM Metadata into the DICOM image, thereby providing a solution to a problem that currently inhibits the distribution of medical images using a file type that is an established international standard. The proposed method removes or ‘anonymises’ the private data, encrypt it and then embeds it into the DICOM image in an imperceptible way. The specific algorithm developed retains the private data attached to a DICOM image even when the image is converted into a standard image file format. Keywords — Coding and Encryption, Information Hiding, Medica

AN INVESTIGATION OF DIFFERENT VIDEO WATERMARKING TECHNIQUES

Watermarking is an advanced technology that identifies to solve the problem of illegal manipulation and distribution of digital data. It is the art of hiding the copyright information into host such that the embedded data is imperceptible. The covers in the forms of digital multimedia object, namely image, audio and video. The extensive literature collected related to the performance improvement of video watermarking techniques is critically reviewed and presented in this paper. Also, comprehensive review of the literature on the evolution of various video watermarking techniques to achieve robustness and to maintain the quality of watermarked video sequences

View invariant DIBR-3D image watermarking using DT-CWT

In 3D image compression, depth image based rendering (DIBR) is one of the latest techniques where the center image (say the main view, is used to synthesise the left and the right view image) and the depth image are communicated to the receiver side. It has been observed in the literature that most of the existing 3D image watermarking schemes are not resilient to the view synthesis process used in the DIBR technique. In this paper, a 3D image watermarking scheme is proposed which is invariant to the DIBR view synthesis process. In this proposed scheme, 2D-dual-tree complex wavelet transform (2D-DT-CWT) coefficients of centre view are used for watermark embedding such that shift invariance and directional property of the DT-CWT can be exploited to make the scheme robust against view synthesis process. A comprehensive set of experiments has been carried out to justify the robustness of the proposed scheme over the related existing schemes with respect to the JPEG compression and synthesis view attack

Spread spectrum-based video watermarking algorithms for copyright protection

Merged with duplicate record 10026.1/2263 on 14.03.2017 by CS (TIS)Digital technologies know an unprecedented expansion in the last years. The consumer can now benefit from hardware and software which was considered state-of-the-art several years ago. The advantages offered by the digital technologies are major but the same digital technology opens the door for unlimited piracy. Copying an analogue VCR tape was certainly possible and relatively easy, in spite of various forms of protection, but due to the analogue environment, the subsequent copies had an inherent loss in quality. This was a natural way of limiting the multiple copying of a video material. With digital technology, this barrier disappears, being possible to make as many copies as desired, without any loss in quality whatsoever. Digital watermarking is one of the best available tools for fighting this threat. The aim of the present work was to develop a digital watermarking system compliant with the recommendations drawn by the EBU, for video broadcast monitoring. Since the watermark can be inserted in either spatial domain or transform domain, this aspect was investigated and led to the conclusion that wavelet transform is one of the best solutions available. Since watermarking is not an easy task, especially considering the robustness under various attacks several techniques were employed in order to increase the capacity/robustness of the system: spread-spectrum and modulation techniques to cast the watermark, powerful error correction to protect the mark, human visual models to insert a robust mark and to ensure its invisibility. The combination of these methods led to a major improvement, but yet the system wasn't robust to several important geometrical attacks. In order to achieve this last milestone, the system uses two distinct watermarks: a spatial domain reference watermark and the main watermark embedded in the wavelet domain. By using this reference watermark and techniques specific to image registration, the system is able to determine the parameters of the attack and revert it. Once the attack was reverted, the main watermark is recovered. The final result is a high capacity, blind DWr-based video watermarking system, robust to a wide range of attacks.BBC Research & Developmen

A Color Image Watermarking Scheme Based On QR Factorization, Logistic and Lorentz Chaotic Maps

Most of the existing color image watermarking schemes use grayscale or binary image as watermark because color image watermark has more data than grayscale or binary watermark. Therefore, it is a challenging issue to design a color image-watermarking scheme. This paper proposes a novel color image watermarking scheme to embed color image watermark into color host image. In watermarking schemes, first divide the host and watermark image into non-overlapping blocks, apply the Discrete Cosine Transformation (DCT) on each blocks of both watermark, and host image. After that QR Factorization, apply on the each blocks of watermark. In this paper, Logistic and Lorentz chaotic maps are usedfor estimating the embedding strength and location. The experimental results reveal that this watermarking scheme is robust against different image processing attacks viz. cropping, contrast adjustment and coloring

Watermarking techniques for genuine fingerprint authentication.

Fingerprints have been used to authenticate people remotely and allow them access to a system. However, the fingerprint-capture sensor is cracked easily using false fingerprint features constructed from a glass surface. Fake fingerprints, which can be easily obtained by attackers, could cheat the system and this issue remains a challenge in fingerprint-based authentication systems. Thus, a mechanism that can validate the originality of fingerprint samples is desired. Watermarking techniques have been used to enhance the fingerprint-based authentication process, however, none of them have been found to satisfy genuine person verification requirements. This thesis focuses on improving the verification of the genuine fingerprint owner using watermarking techniques. Four research issues are being addressed to achieve the main aim of this thesis. The first research task was to embed watermark into fingerprint images collected from different angles. In verification systems, an acquired fingerprint image is compared with another image, which was stored in the database at the time of enrolment. The displacements and rotations of fingerprint images collected from different angles lead to different sets of minutiae. In this case, the fingerprint-based authentication system operates on the ‘close enough’ matching principle between samples and template. A rejection of genuine samples can occur erroneously in such cases. The process of embedding watermarks into fingerprint samples could make this worse by adding spurious minutiae or corrupting correct minutiae. Therefore, a watermarking method for fingerprint images collected from different angles is proposed. Second, embedding high payload of watermark into fingerprint image and preserving the features of the fingerprint from being affected by the embedded watermark is challenging. In this scenario, embedding multiple watermarks that can be used with fingerprint to authenticate the person is proposed. In the developed multi-watermarks schema, two watermark images of high payloads are embedded into fingerprints without significantly affecting minutiae. Third, the robustness of the watermarking approach against image processing operations is important. The implemented fingerprint watermarking algorithms have been proposed to verify the origin of the fingerprint image; however, they are vulnerable to several modes of image operations that can affect the security level of the authentication system. The embedded watermarks, and the fingerprint features that are used subsequently for authentication purposes, can be damaged. Therefore, the current study has evaluated in detail the robustness of the proposed watermarking methods to the most common image operations. Fourth, mobile biometrics are expected to link the genuine user to a claimed identity in ubiquitous applications, which is a great challenge. Touch-based sensors for capturing fingerprints have been incorporated into mobile phones for user identity authentication. However, an individual fake fingerprint cracking the sensor on the iPhone 5S is a warning that biometrics are only a representation of a person, and are not secure. To make thing worse, the ubiquity of mobile devices leaves much room for adversaries to clone, impersonate or fabricate fake biometric identities and/or mobile devices to defraud systems. Therefore, the integration of multiple identifiers for both the capturing device and its owner into one unique entity is proposed

Probabilistic modeling of wavelet coefficients for processing of image and video signals

Statistical estimation and detection techniques are widely used in signal processing including wavelet-based image and video processing. The probability density function (PDF) of the wavelet coefficients of image and video signals plays a key role in the development of techniques for such a processing. Due to the fixed number of parameters, the conventional PDFs for the estimators and detectors usually ignore higher-order moments. Consequently, estimators and detectors designed using such PDFs do not provide a satisfactory performance. This thesis is concerned with first developing a probabilistic model that is capable of incorporating an appropriate number of parameters that depend on higher-order moments of the wavelet coefficients. This model is then used as the prior to propose certain estimation and detection techniques for denoising and watermarking of image and video signals. Towards developing the probabilistic model, the Gauss-Hermite series expansion is chosen, since the wavelet coefficients have non-compact support and their empirical density function shows a resemblance to the standard Gaussian function. A modification is introduced in the series expansion so that only a finite number of terms can be used for modeling the wavelet coefficients with rendering the resulting PDF to become negative. The parameters of the resulting PDF, called the modified Gauss-Hermite (NIGH) PDF, are evaluated in terms of the higher-order sample-moments. It is shown that the MGH PDF fits the empirical density function better than the existing PDFs that use a limited number of parameters do. The proposed MGH PDF is used as the prior of image and video signals in designing maximum a posteriori and minimum mean squared error-based estimators for denoising of image and video signals and log-likelihood ratio-based detector for watermarking of image signals. The performance of the estimation and detection techniques are then evaluated in terms of the commonly used metrics. It is shown through extensive experimentations that the estimation and detection techniques developed utilizing the proposed MGH PDF perform substantially better than those that utilize the conventional PDFs. These results confirm that the superior fit of the MGH PDF to the empirical density function resulting from the flexibility of the MGH PDF in choosing the number of parameters, which are functions of higher-order moments of data, leads to the better performance. Thus, the proposed MGH PDF should play a significant role in wavelet-based image and video signal processin