Verifiable varying sized [formula omitted] multi-image secret sharing with combiner verification and cheater identification

Abstract

In conventional multi-image secret sharing schemes (MISSS) images are shared by the trusted dealer and the shares are sent to the set of participants through a secure channel. During reconstruction, the participants submit shares to a trusted combiner. But the method will collapse if any of the actors perform cheating. This brings verifiable image secret sharing in the research arena. Verifying the trustworthiness of the dealer by the shareholders before accepting shares (dealer verification), examining the genuineness of the shares submission request received from a combiner (combiner verification), checking the authenticity of the shares received from participants by the combiner (cheating detection/ cheater identification) are techniques related to verifiable secret sharing. Medical images, images used at the military or diplomatic level; contain sensible information. Thus the authenticity of the reconstructed images should be checked beforehand. In the case of multi-image secret sharing, the researchers use bit padding if the plaintext images are of different sizes. This adds an extra level of burden during sharing and retrieval.A verifiable varying size (m,n,n) multi-image secret sharing is addressed in this article. Here m(wherem≤n) varying sized images are shared among n participants and during reconstruction all the shares are required. The major contribution of the addressed technique is that it has the capability of dealer authentication, combiner verification, and cheater identification. Another advancement is that most of the communication can be made through a public channel. The test results generate noise like images and statistical analysis, security analysis say in favor of the claims. Comparison with some state-of-the-art techniques gives it a stable platform in verifiable multi-image secret sharing.