Data Hiding with Deep Learning: A Survey Unifying Digital Watermarking and Steganography

Data hiding is the process of embedding information into a noise-tolerant signal such as a piece of audio, video, or image. Digital watermarking is a form of data hiding where identifying data is robustly embedded so that it can resist tampering and be used to identify the original owners of the media. Steganography, another form of data hiding, embeds data for the purpose of secure and secret communication. This survey summarises recent developments in deep learning techniques for data hiding for the purposes of watermarking and steganography, categorising them based on model architectures and noise injection methods. The objective functions, evaluation metrics, and datasets used for training these data hiding models are comprehensively summarised. Finally, we propose and discuss possible future directions for research into deep data hiding techniques

Contextual biometric watermarking of fingerprint images

This research presents contextual digital watermarking techniques using face and demographic text data as multiple watermarks for protecting the evidentiary integrity of fingerprint image. The proposed techniques embed the watermarks into selected regions of fingerprint image in MDCT and DWT domains. A general image watermarking algorithm is developed to investigate the application of MDCT in the elimination of blocking artifacts. The application of MDCT has improved the performance of the watermarking technique compared to DCT. Experimental results show that modifications to fingerprint image are visually imperceptible and maintain the minutiae detail. The integrity of the fingerprint image is verified through high matching score obtained from the AFIS system. There is also a high degree of correlation between the embedded and extracted watermarks. The degree of similarity is computed using pixel-based metrics and human visual system metrics. It is useful for personal identification and establishing digital chain of custody. The results also show that the proposed watermarking technique is resilient to common image modifications that occur during electronic fingerprint transmission

Local Geometric Distortions Resilient Watermarking Scheme Based on Symmetry

As an efficient watermark attack method, geometric distortions destroy the synchronization between watermark encoder and decoder. And the local geometric distortion is a famous challenge in the watermark field. Although a lot of geometric distortions resilient watermarking schemes have been proposed, few of them perform well against local geometric distortion like random bending attack (RBA). To address this problem, this paper proposes a novel watermark synchronization process and the corresponding watermarking scheme. In our scheme, the watermark bits are represented by random patterns. The message is encoded to get a watermark unit, and the watermark unit is flipped to generate a symmetrical watermark. Then the symmetrical watermark is embedded into the spatial domain of the host image in an additive way. In watermark extraction, we first get the theoretically mean-square error minimized estimation of the watermark. Then the auto-convolution function is applied to this estimation to detect the symmetry and get a watermark units map. According to this map, the watermark can be accurately synchronized, and then the extraction can be done. Experimental results demonstrate the excellent robustness of the proposed watermarking scheme to local geometric distortions, global geometric distortions, common image processing operations, and some kinds of combined attacks

Digital rights management (DRM) - watermark encoding scheme for JPEG images

The aim of this dissertation is to develop a new algorithm to embed a watermark in JPEG compressed images, using encoding methods. This encompasses the embedding of proprietary information, such as identity and authentication bitstrings, into the compressed material. This watermark encoding scheme involves combining entropy coding with homophonic coding, in order to embed a watermark in a JPEG image. Arithmetic coding was used as the entropy encoder for this scheme. It is often desired to obtain a robust digital watermarking method that does not distort the digital image, even if this implies that the image is slightly expanded in size before final compression. In this dissertation an algorithm that combines homophonic and arithmetic coding for JPEG images was developed and implemented in software. A detailed analysis of this algorithm is given and the compression (in number of bits) obtained when using the newly developed algorithm (homophonic and arithmetic coding). This research shows that homophonic coding can be used to embed a watermark in a JPEG image by using the watermark information for the selection of the homophones. The proposed algorithm can thus be viewed as a ‘key-less’ encryption technique, where an external bitstring is used as a ‘key’ and is embedded intrinsically into the message stream. The algorithm has achieved to create JPEG images with minimal distortion, with Peak Signal to Noise Ratios (PSNR) of above 35dB. The resulting increase in the entropy of the file is within the expected 2 bits per symbol. This research endeavor consequently provides a unique watermarking technique for images compressed using the JPEG standard.Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2008.Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineeringunrestricte

Contribution to the construction of fingerprinting and watermarking schemes to protect mobile agents and multimedia content

The main characteristic of fingerprinting codes is the need of high error-correction capacity due to the fact that they are designed to avoid collusion attacks which will damage many symbols from the codewords. Moreover, the use of fingerprinting schemes depends on the watermarking system that is used to embed the codeword into the content and how it honors the marking assumption. In this sense, even though fingerprinting codes were mainly used to protect multimedia content, using them on software protection systems seems an option to be considered. This thesis, studies how to use codes which have iterative-decoding algorithms, mainly turbo-codes, to solve the fingerprinting problem. Initially, it studies the effectiveness of current approaches based on concatenating tradicioanal fingerprinting schemes with convolutional codes and turbo-codes. It is shown that these kind of constructions ends up generating a high number of false positives. Even though this thesis contains some proposals to improve these schemes, the direct use of turbo-codes without using any concatenation with a fingerprinting code as inner code has also been considered. It is shown that the performance of turbo-codes using the appropiate constituent codes is a valid alternative for environments with hundreds of users and 2 or 3 traitors. As constituent codes, we have chosen low-rate convolutional codes with maximum free distance. As for how to use fingerprinting codes with watermarking schemes, we have studied the option of using watermarking systems based on informed coding and informed embedding. It has been discovered that, due to different encodings available for the same symbol, its applicability to embed fingerprints is very limited. On this sense, some modifications to these systems have been proposed in order to properly adapt them to fingerprinting applications. Moreover the behavior and impact over a video produced as a collusion of 2 users by the YouTube’s s ervice has been s tudied. We have also studied the optimal parameters for viable tracking of users who have used YouTube and conspired to redistribute copies generated by a collusion attack. Finally, we have studied how to implement fingerprinting schemes and software watermarking to fix the problem of malicious hosts on mobile agents platforms. In this regard, four different alternatives have been proposed to protect the agent depending on whether you want only detect the attack or avoid it in real time. Two of these proposals are focused on the protection of intrusion detection systems based on mobile agents. Moreover, each of these solutions has several implications in terms of infrastructure and complexity.Els codis fingerprinting es caracteritzen per proveir una alta capacitat correctora ja que han de fer front a atacs de confabulació que malmetran una part important dels símbols de la paraula codi. D'atra banda, la utilització de codis de fingerprinting en entorns reals està subjecta a que l'esquema de watermarking que gestiona la incrustació sigui respectuosa amb la marking assumption. De la mateixa manera, tot i que el fingerprinting neix de la protecció de contingut multimèdia, utilitzar-lo en la protecció de software comença a ser una aplicació a avaluar. En aquesta tesi s'ha estudiat com aplicar codis amb des codificació iterativa, concretament turbo-codis, al problema del rastreig de traïdors en el context del fingerprinting digital. Inicialment s'ha qüestionat l'eficàcia dels enfocaments actuals en la utilització de codis convolucionals i turbo-codis que plantegen concatenacions amb esquemes habituals de fingerprinting. S'ha demostrat que aquest tipus de concatenacions portaven, de forma implícita, a una elevada probabilitat d'inculpar un usuari innocent. Tot i que s'han proposat algunes millores sobre aquests esquemes , finalment s'ha plantejat l'ús de turbocodis directament, evitant així la concatenació amb altres esquemes de fingerprinting. S'ha demostrat que, si s'utilitzen els codis constituents apropiats, el rendiment del turbo-descodificador és suficient per a ser una alternativa aplicable en entorns amb varis centenars d'usuaris i 2 o 3 confabuladors . Com a codis constituents s'ha optat pels codis convolucionals de baix ràtio amb distància lliure màxima. Pel que fa a com utilitzar els codis de fingerprinting amb esquemes de watermarking, s'ha estudiat l'opció d'utilitzar sistemes de watermarking basats en la codificació i la incrustació informada. S'ha comprovat que, degut a la múltiple codificació del mateix símbol, la seva aplicabilitat per incrustar fingerprints és molt limitada. En aquest sentit s'ha plantejat algunes modificacions d'aquests sistemes per tal d'adaptar-los correctament a aplicacions de fingerprinting. D'altra banda s'ha avaluat el comportament i l'impacte que el servei de YouTube produeix sobre un vídeo amb un fingerprint incrustat. A més , s'ha estudiat els paràmetres òptims per a fer viable el rastreig d'usuaris que han confabulat i han utilitzat YouTube per a redistribuir la copia fruït de la seva confabulació. Finalment, s'ha estudiat com aplicar els esquemes de fingerprinting i watermarking de software per solucionar el problema de l'amfitrió maliciós en agents mòbils . En aquest sentit s'han proposat quatre alternatives diferents per a protegir l'agent en funció de si és vol només detectar l'atac o evitar-lo en temps real. Dues d'aquestes propostes es centren en la protecció de sistemes de detecció d'intrusions basats en agents mòbils. Cadascuna de les solucions té diverses implicacions a nivell d'infrastructura i de complexitat.Postprint (published version

Optimal Watermark Embedding and Detection Strategies Under Limited Detection Resources

An information-theoretic approach is proposed to watermark embedding and detection under limited detector resources. First, we consider the attack-free scenario under which asymptotically optimal decision regions in the Neyman-Pearson sense are proposed, along with the optimal embedding rule. Later, we explore the case of zero-mean i.i.d. Gaussian covertext distribution with unknown variance under the attack-free scenario. For this case, we propose a lower bound on the exponential decay rate of the false-negative probability and prove that the optimal embedding and detecting strategy is superior to the customary linear, additive embedding strategy in the exponential sense. Finally, these results are extended to the case of memoryless attacks and general worst case attacks. Optimal decision regions and embedding rules are offered, and the worst attack channel is identified.Comment: 36 pages, 5 figures. Revised version. Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Information Theor

HDR Image Watermarking

In this Chapter we survey available solutions for HDR image watermarking. First, we briefly discuss watermarking in general terms, with particular emphasis on its requirements that primarily include security, robustness, imperceptibility, capacity and the availability of the original image during recovery. However, with respect to traditional image watermarking, HDR images possess a unique set of features such as an extended range of luminance values to work with and tone-mapping operators against whom it is essential to be robust. These clearly affect the HDR watermarking algorithms proposed in the literature, which we extensively review next, including a thorough analysis of the reported experimental results. As a working example, we also describe the HDR watermarking system that we recently proposed and that focuses on combining imperceptibility, security and robustness to TM operators at the expense of capacity. We conclude the chapter with a critical analysis of the current state and future directions of the watermarking applications in the HDR domain