An efficient digital image forgery detection using Pelican search optimisation-based DCNN

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the digital age, images are widely used to document events, provide evidence, and communicate information. Ensuring the authenticity of digital images is crucial to maintaining trust and integrity in various domains, including journalism, forensics, legal proceedings, and historical documentation. In this research, a PeCA-DCNN model for digital image detection is proposed, employing a hybrid approach. Initially, the data from image forgery databases is collected and preprocessed to eliminate noise and artefacts. Subsequently, the Viola–Jones algorithm detects frontal faces, and feature extraction is performed using pre-trained models VGG-16 and Resnet-101. To reduce the computational overhead, feature extraction is performed and generates a feature vector. The PeCA algorithm, combined with an adaptive self-boosted DCNN, is used to classify fake and genuine images. The PeCA algorithm enhances model performance by adjusting classifier parameters’ weights and biases. When evaluating the PeCA-DCNN, significant improvements in accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity are obtained with enhancement rates of 1.48, 3.06, and 0.05 in an 80% training scenario, and 3.92, 3.24, and 2.22 in k-fold cross-validation. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach compared to existing techniques.