A research on PDF protection mechanisms

Abstract

Portable Document Format, also named PDF, can integrate images, text, tables, or other elements into a single file, making it an easy-to-store and transfer document format. Due to the biggest feature of PDF being its portability, the modification of such files is very difficult and can ensure the security of the text to a certain extent. Therefore, it has been welcomed by a large number of researchers, office workers, and students. But as the demand for PDF files continues to rise, its security vulnerabilities are gradually being exposed. Consequently, a plethora of security measures for PDFs has come into view. This article primarily summarizes a portion of the overarching principles governing PDF security. Subsequently, this paper will focus on introducing the principles of steganography and cryptography in PDF security protocols while also selecting meaningful and representative research papers to summarize the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed methods.