Reversible Watermarking Techniques Research Articles

Low distortion reversible database watermarking based on hybrid intelligent algorithm.

In many fields, such as medicine and the computer industry, databases are vital in the process of information sharing. However, databases face the risk of being stolen or misused, leading to security threats such as copyright disputes and privacy breaches. Reversible watermarking techniques ensure the ownership of shared relational databases, protect the rights of data owners and enable the recovery of original data. However, most of the methods modify the original data to a large extent and cannot achieve a good balance between protection against malicious attacks and data recovery. In this paper, we proposed a robust and reversible database watermarking technique using a hash function to group digital relational databases, setting the data distortion and watermarking capacity of the band weight function, adjusting the weight of the function to determine the watermarking capacity and the level of data distortion, using firefly algorithms (FA) and simulated annealing algorithms (SA) to improve the efficiency of the search for the location of the watermark embedded and, finally, using the differential expansion of the way to embed the watermark. The experimental results prove that the method maintains the data quality and has good robustness against malicious attacks.

Evaluation of a Framework for Robust Image Reversible Watermarking

In the literature, robust reversible watermarking schemes (RWSs) allow the extraction of watermarks after the images have suffered attacks; however, the modified images are compromised. On the other hand, self-recovery schemes will restore the compromised regions of the images, but no secret messages are inserted in these schemes. A framework for robust reversible watermarking with signal restoration capabilities was previously proposed in the literature. This study selects four fragile reversible watermarking techniques and two self-recovery schemes to design different framework configurations. These configurations are evaluated to test the framework’s performance and determine the structure that yields better results in terms of perceptual transparency using a well-known image database as the signal input. It was found that fragile reversible watermarking schemes hold low perceptual distortion, while self-recovery schemes produce high perceptual distortion levels. The inherent characteristics of each algorithm determine, a priori, the behavior of the framework, which is approximated by a proposed equation.

Survey on Reversible Watermarking Techniques of Echocardiography

In critical domains such as medical and military, reversible watermarking (RW) has been used. In the medical domain, different modalities are used to store patient information. The current study focuses on the application of RW in echocardiography data. Mostly, RW is applied to protect patient data without affecting the quality of the decoded image. The RW methods are benchmarked as per imperceptibility, robustness, and payload. The survey presents a comparison of state-of-the-art RW techniques. The imperceptibility and payload are balanced through a tradeoff. It has been observed in the literature that most of the RW methods lack robustness, and very small-scale robustness has been achieved in this domain of watermarking. Different types of RW, i.e., fragile, semifragile, and robust methods, are being compared and reviewed. Mostly, fragile methods are developed on the error-expansion techniques built on histogram shifting-based approach. In this study, several RW methods are compared and the results are presented.

Difference expansion based reversible watermarking algorithms for copyright protection of images: state-of-the-art and challenges

In the last two decades, there is a widespread and quick growth in the online connectivity globally, which has led to a steady increase in the sharing of multimedia content online. Illegal copying of data and its misuse has become common, and hence there is a rapid rise in research interests of developing a variety of authentication and data protection techniques. Digital watermarking has been used for years to copyright protect the Intellectual Property and is still a domain with lot of scope for research to suit its applicability to sensitive fields such as medical, military, aviation, satellite imagery, advertising, navigation, and designs, which are of very high resolution and demands undegraded transmission and storage. Many Reversible Watermarking (RW) techniques were developed for protection of such sensitive signals, of which Difference Expansion (DE) based methods became popular. This paper presents an extensive survey of reversible watermarking techniques based on DE algorithms for their characteristics, considerations, performance with respect to complexity, embedding capacity, perceptual impact, and fragility, to find the applicability of those algorithms. The paper also outlines the open research problems and provides some future directions for the researchers working in the related domain.

Efficient high capacity technique to embed EPR information and to detect tampering in medical images

Reversible data hiding (RDH) is one of the well-known and highly recommended method to enhance medical data security or electronic patient record (EPR), privacy and truthfulness. In clinical images, while hiding the data, care must be taken to maintain the confidentiality of the information that is to be hidden within the clinical images because the hidden information should not bring down the original quality of the image. Mostly, the investigations carried out for medical diagnosis are usually constructed on the basis of investigation systems used for diagnosis and are grounded on the images usually used for medical study. Magnetic resonance image (MRI), CR and CT, digital format images which are acquired are related to the patient’s data and information regarding their diagnosis study. In this presented approach, we introduce an RDH scheme that can also be combined with encryption and reversible watermarking techniques. Here, we use the data related to the patient diagnosis as the secret information to embed in medical images. Quality of the marked image after embedding the data is usually measured with metrics that are usually used in image processing such as PSNR and SSIM.

Securing Image Using Enhanced Watermarking Technique

The image is significantly used in applications such as medical area, research area, image conferencing, a military image system, online transactions, digital signatures, passwords etc. But not everyone who uses this network is going to play by the rules or have the best interest at heart. Just as we have physical security like locks, fences and police officers to minimize crime in the real world. We need some security to minimize crime and harm in the virtual world. Three important factors form the security objectives of the digital content: they are Availability, Confidentiality, and Integrity. Watermarking techniques along with some Cryptography are used to protect the confidentiality of data. Watermarking is basically a process of injecting data into an image in such a way that it can depict the authenticity of those possessing it. The digital information hidden inside an image is imperceptible to the user but can be easily detected by a computer or various digital devices. Watermarking Technique has proved to be a powerful technique for image security and a lot of research has been made over the years to how to embed the watermarks and recover the watermarks effectively. These types of technique where watermark can be fully extracted from the image and along with the restoration of the cover are popularly known as Reversible Watermarking techniques. These techniques have significantly gained importance due to this excellent recovering property making them suitable for content authentication based applications. However, they are not able to identify any modifications or changes done in watermark making it susceptible to tamper location-based attacks. Due to the rapid development of watermarking techniques, a concluding review of recent research in this field is highly desirable. However, the major focus of this paper is on tamper localization based reversible watermarking techniques.

Reversible Data Hiding for DICOM Image Using Lifting and Companding

In this work, a reversible watermarking technique is proposed for DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) image that offers high embedding capacity (payload), security and fidelity of the watermarked image. The goal is achieved by embedding watermark based on companding in lifting based discrete wavelet transform (DWT) domain. In the embedding process, the companding technique is used to increase the data hiding capacity. On the other hand, a simple linear function is used in companding to make the scheme easy to implement, and content dependant watermark is used to make the scheme robust to collusion operation. Moreover, unlike previously proposed reversible watermarking techniques, this novel approach does not embed the location map in the host image that ultimately helps to achieve high fidelity of the watermarked image. The advantage of the proposed scheme is demonstrated by simulation results and also compared with selected other related schemes.

Independent Embedding Domain Based Two-Stage Robust Reversible Watermarking

Robustness is the most important factor that limits the practical application of reversible watermarking. To deal with this issue, several robust reversible watermarking (RRW) techniques have been proposed. Among them, the two-stage RRW framework proposed by Coltuc et al. is a promising one. In the first state of this framework, a robust watermark is embedded into the cover image to provide robustness, and then in the second stage, the information enabling revert the robust embedding is reversibly embedded into the already marked image to guarantee the reversibility. However, because of using the same area for these two embedding stages, the robustness in the first stage is seriously weakened by the reversible embedding. As a result, this elegant method is not effective as expected. Based on this consideration, this paper proposes an independent embedding domain (ED)-based two-stage RRW. The cover image is first transformed into two independent EDs, and then the robust and reversible watermarks are embedded into each domain separately. The carrier derived from the first embedding stage that carrying the robust watermark will not change after the reversible embedding, and thus, the robustness of the first stage is well preserved. By the proposed method, the embedding performance of the original two-stage RRW is significantly enhanced. Moreover, the proposed method is experimentally verified better than some other state-of-the-art RRW methods.

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.

Optimality in Distortion Control in Reversible Watermarking Using Genetic Algorithms

This paper proposes a reversible contrast mapping (RCM)-based reversible watermarking (RW) algorithm (RCM-RW) where optimal distortion thresholds adaptive to the image characteristics are used. A generalized form of RCM is developed using a set of transformation functions; each one may be considered as a point on a straight line, called here as operating point. Each operating point offers trade-off benefits on embedding distortion, data hiding capacity and security for the hidden data. The choice of an operating point is governed by adaptive distortion control thresholds, the values depend on the partitioning of the images on smooth, texture and edge regions. However, region-specific optimal distortion threshold is difficult to represent in closed-form expression. Genetic algorithms (GAs), due to their complex searching nature, are used here for calculating the set of distortion thresholds. Simulation results show that high embedding capacity, improved security and imperceptibility of the hidden information can be met simultaneously using a particular combination of such operating points on optimal basis. Extensive simulation results show that the proposed method outperforms the existing RW techniques.

On the protection of consumer genomic data in the Internet of Living Things

Several companies have recently emerged to provide online Direct-To-Consumer (DTC) DNA analysis and sequencing. Those activities will be, in the near future, the foundations of the emerging Internet of Living Things. The concept of Internet of Living Things has been introduced to characterize networks of biological sequencing sensors, which could rely on cloud-based analysis capabilities, to support the users in deeply studying DNA or other molecules. Sequencing sensors have many fields of application and much more will likely to come. In this context, DNA microarray images represent the core of modern genomic data analysis, since they allow the simultaneous monitoring of many thousands of genes and represent a sort of “container”, not only for storing genomics data, but also for managing, sharing and exchanging such type of data.In this scenario, the ability to protect genomics and medical big data is a growing challenge. In particular, for what concerns DNA microarray images, the techniques commonly employed for data protection are not effective due for example to the unauthorized use or manipulation after decryption or the lost of metadata during image processing.In this paper we address the problem of protecting such type of information, by means of watermarking techniques. In particular, we propose reversible watermarking techniques explicitly tailored for the characteristics of DNA microarray images to ensure the protection of such images in terms of authenticity and integrity, besides enabling the binding of those imaging data with other information related to them. We assess the effectiveness and efficiency of our techniques by means of a working prototype.

A New Robust Reversible Blind Watermarking in Wavelet-Domain for Color Images

Reversible watermarking methods are used for copyright protection and are able to recover the host image without distortion. Robust reversible watermarking technique should resist against intentional and unintentional image processing attacks. Robust reversible watermarking techniques should have three features namely imperceptibility, reversibility and robustness. In this paper, it is proposed to develop a new robust reversible blind watermarking for color images based on histogram construction of the wavelet coefficients constructed from the cover image. In the proposed approach, the red component of a host color image is decomposed into wavelet coefficients. Motivated by the excellent spatio-frequency localization properties of wavelets, this technique is proposed in the wavelet domain. The pixels are adjusted before watermark embedding such that both overflow and underflow of pixels during embedding is avoided and image is recovered without distortion. Based on histogram construction and the local sensitivity of Human Visual System (HVS) in wavelet domain, the watermark is embedded. For watermark extraction without host image, k-means clustering algorithm is proposed. The experimental results show that the proposed technique has good performance in terms of reversibility and robustness with the high quality of the watermarked image. The PSNR value of the recovered image is around 48[Formula: see text]dB which proves that the quality of the recovered image is not degraded.

A New Reversible Date-Hiding Algorithm for Encrypted Images

In order to effectively increase embedding capacity and completely extract the watermarking information in information hiding of encrypted images, a new reversible watermarking embedding algorithm based on rhombus prediction model and difference histogram shifting ideas is proposed. Firstly, the images are pretreated according to rhombus prediction model. Then, the watermarking information is embedded in encrypted images by effective combination of homomorphism encryption scheme and reversible watermarking techniques. Finally, the watermarking information is completely extracted and the images are recovered based on computed difference histogram from left to right and from top to bottom. So, the efficiency and reversibility are ensured when watermarking information is embedded in encrypted image. Experiment results show that the proposed algorithm is simple and easy to realize, the embedding capacity is effectively increased, watermarking information is completely reversible, and the image can be recovered with no distortion.

Capacity Controllable Location Map Free Reversible Watermarking

Reversible watermarking techniques enable the extraction of the embedding bits from a watermarked image in a lossless way. It exploits the high spatial correlation among neighboring pixels. Application in reversible watermarking includes military and medical images. Images occurs overflow or underflow problems during the imbedding process since pixels value may be out of range [0:255]. Most methods require a location map to solve such problems. A location map free reversible watermarking algorithm is proposed in this study. A prediction threshold value is computed, histogram shifting scheme based on the prediction threshold value to solve overflow and underflow problems. Another threshold value is adopted to achieve capacity control, image quality is better in different payload length with this control. The experimental results reveal that the performance of proposed method outperforms that proposed by FUJIYOSHI et al.

High capacity reversible image watermarking using error expansion and context‐dependent embedding

A novel prediction error expansion-based reversible image watermarking technique is proposed. The proposed approach exploits the variance of neighbouring pixels in a way that the embedding of information bits in each pixel of an image depends on the scale of variation present in its eight neighbouring pixel values. A rhombus predictor is employed in the proposed scheme for its efficacy. In contrast to existing prediction-error expansion based reversible watermarking techniques, the embedding phase of the proposed approach depends only on the context of the pixel to be watermarked. Exploiting the neighbourhood information of each pixel in this way, avoids the need of a location map (LM) or histogram shifting (HS) to distinguish marked pixels from unmarked pixels. Consequently, the proposed approach does not require a large amount of auxiliary information in the form of a LM or HS of unmarked pixels, and thus introduces less distortion, yielding good embedding performance, especially at high capacity.

A survey on reversible watermarking techniques for relational databases

AbstractOver the past few years, reversible watermarking techniques for relational databases have been proposed to provide protection of ownership rights, data tempering, and data integrity. Mainly, these techniques ensure original data recovery from watermarked data, whereas irreversible watermarking schemes only protect ownership rights. This characteristic of reversible watermarking has emerged as a candidate solution for the protection of ownership rights of data, intolerable to modifications such as medical data, genetic data, credit card, and bank account data. The main objective of this paper is to make an extensive survey of the state‐of‐the‐art in reversible watermarking techniques for relational databases to reflect recent research progress and to point out the key issues for future research. In order to analyze these techniques, a classification has been performed on the basis of (i) the extent of modifications introduced by the watermarking scheme in the underlying data and (ii) the robustness of the embedded watermark against malicious attacks. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Tamper detection of electrocardiographic signal using watermarked bio-hash code in wireless cardiology

The current globalised era is marked with a rapid increase in the use of wireless media to exchange information over globally distributed locations. This advancement and growth of technologically mediated information helps to provide medical care from a distant location by exchanging biomedical information amongst various hospitals and diagnostic centres across the world. However, while transmitting, the medical information becomes highly vulnerable to miscellaneous attacks like tampering and hacking. A watermark is added in the Electrocardiographic (ECG) signal to increase the level of security to help protect the integrity of the data and decrease the chances of wrong diagnosis. In this current work, a technique is proposed to detect undesirable modifications, if present, in a transmitted biomedical ECG signal. The proposed method is based on bio–hashing and reversible watermarking techniques.

A Comparative Analysis on Reversible Watermarking Techniques in Medical Images

Digital Image watermarking is usually used for identifying the owner, provider or recipient of an image. Watermarking also can be used for other applications such as copyright protection, fingerprinting, authentication, integrity verification, broadcast monitoring and content description. Reversibility is one of the important aspects in digital image watermarking. It is also known as lossless or invertible watermarking. Compared to conventional watermarking scheme, reversible data hiding restores not only the watermark, but also the original multimedia perfectly, which is a critical requirement for medical and military applications. In this work, after presenting different classifications of reversible methods, two commonly used reversible techniques are explained and their strengths and weaknesses are discussed.

A recent survey of reversible watermarking techniques

The art of secretly hiding and communicating information has gained immense importance in the last two decades due to the advances in generation, storage, and communication technology of digital content. Watermarking is one of the promising solutions for tamper detection and protection of digital content. However, watermarking can cause damage to the sensitive information present in the cover work. Therefore, at the receiving end, the exact recovery of cover work may not be possible. Additionally, there exist certain applications that may not tolerate even small distortions in cover work prior to the downstream processing. In such applications, reversible watermarking instead of conventional watermarking is employed. Reversible watermarking of digital content allows full extraction of the watermark along with the complete restoration of the cover work. For the last few years, reversible watermarking techniques are gaining popularity because of its increasing applications in some important and sensitive areas, i.e., 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 reversible watermarking schemes are discussed on the basis of various characteristics of watermarking. However, the major focus of this survey is on prediction-error expansion based reversible watermarking techniques, whereby the secret information is hidden in the prediction domain through error expansion. Comparison of the different reversible watermarking techniques is provided in tabular form, and an analysis is carried out. Additionally, experimental comparison of some of the recent reversible watermarking techniques, both in terms of watermarking properties and computational time, is provided on a dataset of 300 images. Future directions are also provided for this potentially important field of watermarking.

A proposed security technique based on watermarking and encryption for digital imaging and communications in medicine

Nowadays; modern Hospital Data Management Systems (HDMSs) are applied in a computer network; in addition medicinal equipments produce medical images in a digital form. HDMS must store and exchange these images in a secured environment to provide image integrity and patient privacy. The reversible watermarking techniques can be used to provide the integrity and the privacy. In this paper, a security technique based on watermarking and encryption is proposed to be used for Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM). It provides patient authentication, information confidentiality and integrity based on reversible watermark. To achieve integrity service at the sender side; a hash value based on encrypted MD5 is determined from the image. And to satisfy the reversible feature; R–S-Vector is determined from the image and is compressed based on a Huffman compression algorithm. After that to provide confidentiality and authentication services: the compressed R–S-Vector, the hash value and patient ID are concatenated to form a watermark then this watermark is encrypted using AES encryption technique, finally the watermark is embedded inside the medical image. Experimental results prove that the proposed technique can provide patient authentication services, image integrity service and information confidentiality service with excellent efficiency. Concluded results for all tested DICOM medical images and natural images show the following: BER equals 0, both of SNR and PSNR are consistent and have large values, and MSE has low value; the average values of SNR, PSNR and MSE are 52dB, 57dB and 0.12 respectively. Therefore, watermarked images have high imperceptibility, invisibility and transparency. In addition, the watermark extracted from the image at the receiver side is identical to the watermark embedded into the image in the sender side; as a result, the proposed technique is totally reversible, and the embedded watermark does not affect the quality of the original image.