Cryptographic copyright protection for digital images based on watermarking techniques

Abstract

In this paper we present a new approach for the secure and robust copyright protection of digital images. We describe a system for generating digital watermarks and for trading watermarked images. The system is based on a new watermarking technique, which is robust against image transformation techniques such as compression, rotation, translation, scaling and cropping. It uses modulation of the magnitude components in Fourier space to embed a watermark and an accompanying template and, during watermark extraction, reads a template in the log polar transform of the frequency domain. The template is used for analyzing scaling and rotation suffered by the watermarked stego-image. The detection of the watermarks is also possible without any need for the original cover-image. In addition, the system applies asymmetric cryptographic protocols for different purposes, namely embedding/detecting the watermark and transferring watermarked data. The public key technique is applied for the construction of a one-way watermark embedding and the verification function to identify and prove the uniqueness of the watermark. Legal dispute resolution is supported for the multiple watermarking of a digital image without revealing the confidential keying information

Image Steganography and Steganalysis: A Survey

“…Watermarking of digital data, on the other hand is the process that enables data called a watermark, digital signature, tag, or label into a multimedia object such as text, audio, image or video in perceptually invisible or inaudible manner without degrading the quality of the object, such that watermark can be detected or extracted later to make an assertion about the object [1][2][3][4]. The embedded information can be a serial number or random number sequence, ownership identifiers, copyright messages, control signals, transaction dates, information about the creators of the work, bilevel or gray level images, text or other digital data formats [5]. An important goal of watermarking is to make removal of the inserted watermark bits from the watermarked object impossible without degrading the quality of the object and without additional information such as a key.…”

New Watermarking Technique Using Data Matrix and Encryption Keys

“…Fourth, they must clearly state ownership. Meaningful logos or random sequences have been used in existing digital watermarking techniques [1][2][3][6][7][8][9] and [10]. The meaningful logos are created by copyright holders based on their unique information and are very effective when representing their copyright.…”

Dual Image Watermarking Scheme based on Singular Value Decomposition and Visual Cryptography in Discrete Wavelet Transform

“…Watermarking is the process that enables data called a watermark, digital signature, tag, or label into a multimedia object such as audio, image or video in perceptually invisible or inaudible manner without degrading the quality of the object, such that watermark can be detected or extracted later to make an assertion about the object [1][2][3][4]. The embedded information can be a serial number or random number sequence, ownership identifiers, copyright messages, control signals, transaction dates, information about the creators of the work, bi-level or gray level images, text or other digital data formats or anything that can reveal something about the object [5]. Digital watermarking provides value-added protection on the top of data encryption and scrambling for content protection and effective digital rights management [6].…”