Histogram-based multilayer reversible data hiding method for securing secret data

In this modern age, data can be easily transferred within networks. This condition has brought the data vulnerable; so they need protection at all times. To minimize this threat, data hiding appears as one of the potential methods to secure data. This protection is done by embedding the secret into various types of data, such as an image. In this case, histogram shifting has been proposed; however, the amount of secret and the respective stego image are still challenging. In this research, we offer a method to improve its performance by performing some steps, for example removing the shifting process and employing multilayer embedding. Here, the embedding is done directly to the peak of the histogram which has been generated by the cover. The experimental results show that this proposed method has a better quality of stego image than existing ones. So, it can be one of possible solutions to protect sensitive data

Reversible Data Hiding with a New Local Contrast Enhancement Approach

Reversible data hiding schemes hide information into a digital image and simultaneously increase its contrast. The improvements of the different approaches aim to increase the capacity, contrast, and quality of the image. However, recent proposals contrast the image globally and lose local details since they use two common methodologies that may not contribute to obtaining better results. Firstly, to generate vacancies for hiding information, most schemes start with a preprocessing applied to the histogram that may introduce visual distortions and set the maximum hiding rate in advance. Secondly, just a few hiding ranges are selected in the histogram, which means that just limited contrast and capacity may be achieved. To solve these problems, in this paper, a novel approach without preprocessing performs an automatic selection of multiple hiding ranges into the histograms. The selection stage is based on an optimization process, and the iterative-based algorithm increases capacity at embedding execution. Results show that quality and capacity values overcome previous approaches. Additionally, visual results show how greyscale values are better differentiated in the image, revealing details globally and locally

Reversible Data Hiding scheme using modified Histogram Shifting in Encrypted Images for Bio-medical images

Existing Least Significant Bit (LSB) steganography system is less robust and the stego-images can be corrupted easily by attackers. To overcome these problems Reversible data hiding (RDH) techniques are used. RDH is an efficient way of embedding confidential message into a cover image. Histogram expansion and histogram shifting are effective techniques in reversible data hiding. The embedded message and cover images can be extracted without any distortion. The proposed system focuses on implementation of RDH techniques for hiding data in encrypted bio-medical images without any loss. In the proposed techniques the bio-medical data are embedded into cover images by reversible data hiding technique. Histogram expansion and histogram shifting have been used to extract cover image and bio- medical data. Each pixel is encrypted by public key of Paillier cryptosystem algorithm. The homomorphic multiplication is used to expand the histogram of the image in encrypted domain. The histogram shifting is done based on the homomorphic addition and adjacent pixel difference in the encrypted domain. The message is embedded into the host image pixel difference. On receiving encrypted image with additional data, the receiver using his private key performs decryption. As a result, due to histogram expansion and histogram shifting embedded message and the host image can be recovered perfectly. The embedding rate is increased in host image than in existing scheme due to adjacency pixel difference

Reversible Data Hiding scheme using modified Histogram Shifting in Encrypted Images for Bio-medical images

Existing Least Significant Bit (LSB) steganography system is less robust and the stego-images can be corrupted easily by attackers. To overcome these problems Reversible data hiding (RDH) techniques are used. RDH is an efficient way of embedding confidential message into a cover image. Histogram expansion and histogram shifting are effective techniques in reversible data hiding. The embedded message and cover images can be extracted without any distortion. The proposed system focuses on implementation of RDH techniques for hiding data in encrypted bio-medical images without any loss. In the proposed techniques the bio-medical data are embedded into cover images by reversible data hiding technique. Histogram expansion and histogram shifting have been used to extract cover image and bio- medical data. Each pixel is encrypted by public key of Paillier cryptosystem algorithm. The homomorphic multiplication is used to expand the histogram of the image in encrypted domain. The histogram shifting is done based on the homomorphic addition and adjacent pixel difference in the encrypted domain. The message is embedded into the host image pixel difference. On receiving encrypted image with additional data, the receiver using his private key performs decryption. As a result, due to histogram expansion and histogram shifting embedded message and the host image can be recovered perfectly. The embedding rate is increased in host image than in existing scheme due to adjacency pixel difference

A Survey on Recent Reversible Watermarking Techniques

Watermarking is a technique to protect the copyright of digital media such as image, text, music and movie. Reversible watermarking is a technique in which watermark can be removed to completely restore the original image. Reversible watermarking of digital content allows full extraction of the watermark along with the complete restoration of the original image. For the last few years, reversible watermarking techniques are gaining popularity due to its applications in important and sensitive areas like military communication, healthcare, and law-enforcement. Due to the rapid evolution of reversible watermarking techniques, a latest review of recent research in this field is highly desirable. In this survey, the performances of different latest reversible watermarking techniques are discussed on the basis of various characteristics of watermarking

Secure medical image watermarking based on reversible data hiding with Arnold's cat map

The process of restoring medical images to their original form after the extraction process in application watermarking is crucial for ensuring their authenticity. Inaccurate diagnoses can occur due to distortions in medical images from conventional data embedding applications. To address this issue, reversible data hiding (RDH) method has been proposed by several researchers in recent years to embed data in medical images. After the extraction process, images can be restored to their original form with a reversible data-hiding method. In the past few years, several RDH methods have been rapidly developed, which are based on the concept of difference expansion (DE). However, it is crucial to pay attention to the security of the medical image watermarking method, the embedded data with RDH method can be easily modified, accessed, and altered by unauthorized individuals if they know the employed method. This research suggests a new approach to secure the RDH method through the use of Chaotic Map-based Arnold's Cat Map algorithms on the medical images. Data embedding was performed on random medical images using a DE method. Four gray-scale medical image modalities were used to assess the proposed method's efficacy. In our approach, we can incorporate capacity up to 0.62 bpp while maintaining a visual quality up to 41.02 dB according to PSNR and 0.9900 according to SSIM. The results indicated that it can enhance the security of the RDH method while retaining the ability to embed data and preserving the visual appearance of the medical images

Reversible Image Watermarking Using Modified Quadratic Difference Expansion and Hybrid Optimization Technique

With increasing copyright violation cases, watermarking of digital images is a very popular solution for securing online media content. Since some sensitive applications require image recovery after watermark extraction, reversible watermarking is widely preferred. This article introduces a Modified Quadratic Difference Expansion (MQDE) and fractal encryption-based reversible watermarking for securing the copyrights of images. First, fractal encryption is applied to watermarks using Tromino's L-shaped theorem to improve security. In addition, Cuckoo Search-Grey Wolf Optimization (CSGWO) is enforced on the cover image to optimize block allocation for inserting an encrypted watermark such that it greatly increases its invisibility. While the developed MQDE technique helps to improve coverage and visual quality, the novel data-driven distortion control unit ensures optimal performance. The suggested approach provides the highest level of protection when retrieving the secret image and original cover image without losing the essential information, apart from improving transparency and capacity without much tradeoff. The simulation results of this approach are superior to existing methods in terms of embedding capacity. With an average PSNR of 67 dB, the method shows good imperceptibility in comparison to other schemes

Privacy-preserving information hiding and its applications

The phenomenal advances in cloud computing technology have raised concerns about data privacy. Aided by the modern cryptographic techniques such as homomorphic encryption, it has become possible to carry out computations in the encrypted domain and process data without compromising information privacy. In this thesis, we study various classes of privacy-preserving information hiding schemes and their real-world applications for cyber security, cloud computing, Internet of things, etc. Data breach is recognised as one of the most dreadful cyber security threats in which private data is copied, transmitted, viewed, stolen or used by unauthorised parties. Although encryption can obfuscate private information against unauthorised viewing, it may not stop data from illegitimate exportation. Privacy-preserving Information hiding can serve as a potential solution to this issue in such a manner that a permission code is embedded into the encrypted data and can be detected when transmissions occur. Digital watermarking is a technique that has been used for a wide range of intriguing applications such as data authentication and ownership identification. However, some of the algorithms are proprietary intellectual properties and thus the availability to the general public is rather limited. A possible solution is to outsource the task of watermarking to an authorised cloud service provider, that has legitimate right to execute the algorithms as well as high computational capacity. Privacypreserving Information hiding is well suited to this scenario since it is operated in the encrypted domain and hence prevents private data from being collected by the cloud. Internet of things is a promising technology to healthcare industry. A common framework consists of wearable equipments for monitoring the health status of an individual, a local gateway device for aggregating the data, and a cloud server for storing and analysing the data. However, there are risks that an adversary may attempt to eavesdrop the wireless communication, attack the gateway device or even access to the cloud server. Hence, it is desirable to produce and encrypt the data simultaneously and incorporate secret sharing schemes to realise access control. Privacy-preserving secret sharing is a novel research for fulfilling this function. In summary, this thesis presents novel schemes and algorithms, including: • two privacy-preserving reversible information hiding schemes based upon symmetric cryptography using arithmetic of quadratic residues and lexicographic permutations, respectively. • two privacy-preserving reversible information hiding schemes based upon asymmetric cryptography using multiplicative and additive privacy homomorphisms, respectively. • four predictive models for assisting the removal of distortions inflicted by information hiding based respectively upon projection theorem, image gradient, total variation denoising, and Bayesian inference. • three privacy-preserving secret sharing algorithms with different levels of generality