Improved joint reversible data hiding in encrypted images

This paper proposes an improved method of reversible data hiding in encrypted images (RDH-EI). Three parties constitute the proposed system: the image owner, the remote server and the recipient. To preserve privacy, an image owner encrypts the original image using a stream cipher algorithm and uploads the ciphertext to a remote server. On server side, a data-hider is allowed to embed additional message into the encrypted image using a swapping/shifting based algorithm. After downloading the marked encrypted image from the server and implementing the decryption, a recipient can extract the hidden messages and losslessly recover the original image. Experimental results show that the proposed method achieves a larger payload than the related works. Meanwhile, a limitation in the related works that few bits can be embedded into the encrypted medical images is also eliminated in the proposed method.     

An efficient high-capacity reversible data hiding scheme for encrypted images

Reversible data hiding in encrypted images is an effective technique to embed information in encrypted domain, without knowing the original content of the image or the encryption key. In this paper, a high-capacity reversible data hiding scheme for encrypted images based on MSB (most significant bit) prediction is proposed. Since the prediction is not always accurate, it is necessary to identify the prediction error and store this information in the location map. The stream cipher is then used to encrypt the original image directly. During the data hiding phase, up to three MSBs of each available pixel in the encrypted image are substituted by the bits of the secret message. At the receiving end, the embedded data can be extracted without any errors and the original image can be perfectly reconstructed by utilizing MSB prediction. Experimental results show that the scheme can achieve higher embedding capacity than most related methods.     

Efficient reversible data hiding in encrypted images

This paper proposes a novel scheme of reversible data hiding in encrypted images based on lossless compression of encrypted data. In encryption phase, a stream cipher is used to mask the original content. Then, a data hider compresses a part of encrypted data in the cipher-text image using LDPC code, and inserts the compressed data as well as the additional data into the part of encrypted data itself using efficient embedding method. Since the majority of encrypted data are kept unchanged, the quality of directly decrypted image is satisfactory. A receiver with the data-hiding key can successfully extract the additional data and the compressed data. By exploiting the compressed data and the side information provided by the unchanged data, the receiver can further recover the original plaintext image without any error. Experimental result shows that the proposed scheme significantly outperforms the previous approaches.     

High capacity reversible data hiding in encrypted images using SIBRW and GCC

In this paper, a reversible data hiding in encrypted images (RDHEI) method combining GCC (group classification encoding) and SIBRW containing sixteen image-based rearrangement ways is proposed to achieve high-capacity data embedding in encrypted images. Each way of SIBRW aims at bringing strongly-correlated bits of each higher bit-plane together by rearranging each higher bit-plane. For each higher bit-plane, the optimal way achieving the most concentrated aggregation performance is selected from SIBRW to rearrange this bit-plane, and then, GCC compresses the rearranged bit-plane in group-by-group manner. By making full use of strong-correlation between adjacent groups, GCC can compress not only consecutive several groups whose bits are valued 1 (or 0) but also a single group so that a large embedding space is provided. The encryption method including the bit-level XOR-encryption and scrambling operations enhances the security. The experimental results show that the proposed scheme can achieve large embedding capacity and high security.     

Reversible data hiding in encrypted color images using cross-channel correlations

In recent years, the increasing requirements in cloud storage and cloud computing have made it necessary to encrypt digital images for privacy protection. Meanwhile, many reversible data hiding (RDH) algorithms in the encrypted domain have been proposed. However, most of these algorithms are for gray-level images, and the intrinsic cross-channel correlations of color images cannot be utilized to improve the embedding capacity. In this paper, we propose a novel data hiding method for encrypted color images. In the encryption stage, the homomorphic property of encryption is achieved by basic modular addition. During the data hiding process, the cross-channel correlations between R, G and B channels are generated in encrypted domain, and data hiding is performed by the difference histogram shifting. Analysis and experiments demonstrate that the proposed method is secure and the RDH performance is superior.     

Reversible data hiding in encrypted images with separability and high embedding capacity

In this paper, a high-capacity reversible data hiding (RDH) scheme for encrypted images with separability is proposed. The image is first divided into non-overlapping blocks, and each block is encrypted with the same random value. The advantage is that the correlation between adjacent pixels can be preserved. Utilizing the preserved correlation, the prediction difference in encrypted domain is exactly the same as that of plaintext domain, so that the separability can be achieved. Without accessing the original image content, the data-hider can embed additional data into encrypted image through histogram shifting and difference expansion. At the receiving end, the embedded additional data and the original image can be recovered without any error in separable manner. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed scheme.     

A general framework for reversible data hiding in encrypted images by reserving room before encryption

In this paper a general framework to adopt different predictors for reversible data hiding in the encrypted image is presented. Employing linear regression, we propose innovative predictors that contribute more significantly to accomplish more payload than conventional ones. Reserving room before encryption (RRBE) is designated in the proposed scheme making possible to attain high embedding capacity. In RRBE procedure, pre-processing is allowed before image encryption. In our scheme, pre-processing comprises of three main steps: computing prediction-errors, blocking and labeling of the errors. By blocking, we obviate the need for lossless compression to when a content owner is not enthusiastic. Lossless compression is employed in recent state of the art schemes to improve payload. We surpass the prior arts exploiting proper predictors, more efficient labeling procedure and blocking of the prediction-errors.     

High-capacity reversible data hiding in encrypted image based on specific encryption process

This paper proposes a novel reversible data hiding method in encrypted images based on specific encryption process. In the proposed specific encryption algorithm, the stream cipher and prediction error are combined to vacate room for data embedding. After that, a permutation operation is performed on the encrypted image to improve the security. In the embedding process, we can embed a large amount of secret data in the encrypted image by pixel value expansion because most of the pixel values are less than 128 by the specific encryption process. At the receiver end, the encrypted image can be recovered from the marked encrypted image without knowing the secret data. Therefore, even if the recipient only has the encryption key, the original image will be perfectly recovered. If the recipient only has the data-hiding key, the secret data will be extracted. And if the recipient has both keys, the original image and the secret data are both available. The proposed method achieves a higher embedding capacity than that of methods based on vacating room after encryption. It does not require the image owner to perform reversible data hiding techniques on the original image, which is more convenient than methods based on reserving room before encryption. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms other state-of-the-art methods.     

High-capacity reversible data hiding in encrypted image based on Huffman coding and differences of high nibbles of pixels

In this paper, we propose a new reversible data hiding method in encrypted images. Due to spatial correlation, there is a large probability that the adjacent pixels of the image have small differences, which is especially obvious on the high four most significant bits (high nibbles) of the pixels. If the high nibble of each pixel is regarded as a 4-bit value, the differences between the high nibbles of the adjacent pixels are mostly concentrated in a small range. Based on this fact, Huffman coding was used to encode all the differences between the high nibbles of the adjacent pixels in order to compress the four most significant bit (MSB) planes efficiently and create a large-capacity room. After creating room, a stream cipher is used to encrypt the image, and the room is reserved in the encrypted image for data hiding without losing information. The experimental results showed that the proposed method can achieve a larger embedding rate and better visual quality of the marked decrypted image than other related methods.     

Reversal of pixel rotation: A reversible data hiding system towards cybersecurity in encrypted images

Due to privacy and security concerns, the researches of reversible data hiding in encrypted images (RDHEI) have become increasingly important. Conventional schemes vacate the spare room after image encryption (VRAE) suffer from the low embedding rate, high error rate of data extraction, and imperfect image recovery. To address these issues, we propose a separable reversible data hiding scheme for encrypted images that utilizes a novel pixel rotation technique to embed data into fully encrypted images. The block complexities of four decrypted rotation states are considered when recovering image. To realize perfect image recovery, we further devise a lossless version (LPR-RDHEI). Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed PR-RDHEI scheme achieves an embedding rate of 0.4994 bpp on average and ensures lossless data extraction. Meanwhile, the proposed LPR-RDHEI scheme still has a 0.4494 bpp embedding rate on average. The embedding rates of our two schemes are significantly improved compared with state-of-the-arts.     

Adaptive reversible data hiding scheme based on integer transform

In this paper, we present a new reversible data hiding algorithm based on integer transform and adaptive embedding. According to the image block type determined by the pre-estimated distortion, the parameter in integer transform is adaptively selected in different blocks. This allows embedding more data bits into smooth blocks while avoiding large distortion generated by noisy ones, and thus enables very high capacity with good image quality. For instance, by the proposed method, we can embed as high as 2.17 bits per pixel into Lena image with a reasonable PSNR of 20.71 dB. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms some state-of-the-art algorithms, especially for high capacity case.     

SARDH: A novel sharpening-aware reversible data hiding algorithm

Reversible data hiding (RDH) algorithms allow data protection and exact recovery of the original cover image upon data extraction. Most of RDH algorithms attempt to embed data while maintaining high peak signal-to-noise ratio. However, it has been deemed recently that some applications may demand improving the image contrast while embedding data. Additionally, stego images with better contrast could be less attractive to attacker, given the fact they have no idea about the original cover image. In this paper, we propose a sharpening-aware RDH (SARDH) algorithm that is capable of embedding significant amount of data in addition to sharpening the image. Experimental results proved the ability of SARDH algorithm in embedding large payloads and providing sharper stego images.     

Separable reversible data hiding in encrypted image based on pixel value ordering and additive homomorphism

This work proposes a separable reversible data hiding scheme in encrypted images based on pixel value ordering (PVO). After the original image is encrypted using homomorphism encryption by the content owner, the data hider embeds the secret data in encrypted domain. The PVO strategy realizes hiding data in each block. Additive homomorphism guarantees the performance of PVO in encrypted domain is close to that in plain domain. Besides, the homomorphism encryption does not cause data expansion, and the payload can be further improved. With the watermarked encrypted image, if the receiver has only the data hiding key, he can extract the additional data. If the receiver has only the encryption key, he can obtain a decrypted image similar to the original one. If the receiver has both the data hiding key and the encryption key, he can extract the additional data without any error and recover the original image losslessly.     

基于块容量标签的密文图像可逆数据隐藏方法

密文图像的可逆数据隐藏技术既能保证载体内容不被泄露,又能传递附加信息。本文提出了一种基于块容量标签(block capacity label, BCL)的高容量密文图像可逆数据隐藏算法。该方案在图像加密之前进行预处理,首先将图像分为两个区域：参考像素区域和预测像素区域。然后将预测像素区域分为不重叠的块,根据所提出的算法确定分块的BCL,在对图像进行加密之后嵌入BCL,生成加密图像;在秘密数据嵌入阶段,根据BCL和数据隐藏密钥嵌入秘密数据。实验测试了BOWS-2数据集,平均嵌入容量为3.806 8 bpp,与现有方法相比,该方法可以获得更高的秘密数据嵌入容量,并可以实现原始图像的完美重建。     

High-capacity reversible data hiding in encrypted images based on adaptive block encoding

This paper proposes a new high-capacity reversible data hiding scheme in encrypted images. The content owner first divides the cover image into blocks. Then, the block permutation and the bitwise stream cipher processes are applied to encrypt the image. Upon receiving the encrypted image, the data hider analyzes the image blocks and adaptively decides an optimal block-type labeling strategy. Based on the adaptive block encoding, the image is compressed to vacate the spare room, and the secret data are encrypted and embedded into the spare space. According to the granted authority, the receiver can restore the cover image, extract the secret data, or do both. Experimental results show that the embedding capacity of the proposed scheme outperforms state-of-the-art schemes. In addition, security level and robustness of the proposed scheme are also investigated.     

Reversible data hiding in encrypted images based on absolute mean difference of multiple neighboring pixels

Recently, with the development of cloud computing, more and more secret data are stored in cloud. Reversible data hiding in encrypted images is a technique that makes contribution to cloud data management in privacy preserving and data security. In previous works, Zhang and Hong presented two reversible dada hiding methods in encrypted images, respectively. However, Zhang’s work neglected the pixels in the borders of image blocks, and Hong et al.’s research only considered two adjacent pixels of each pixel. In addition, their works only considered that all image blocks are embedded into additional data. In this paper, we propose a novel method of evaluating the complexity of image blocks, which considers multiple neighboring pixels according to the locations of different pixels. Furthermore, data embedding ratio is considered. Experiments show that this novel method can reduce average extracted-bit error rate when the block size is appropriate.     

Adaptive reversible data hiding for JPEG images with multiple two-dimensional histograms

Joint photographic experts group (JPEG) can provide good quality with small file size but also eliminate extensively the redundancies of images. Therefore, hiding data into JPEG images in terms of maintaining high visual quality at small file sizes has been a great challenge for researchers. In this paper, an adaptive reversible data hiding method for JPEG images containing multiple two-dimensional (2D) histograms is proposed. Adaptability is mainly reflected in three aspects. The first one is to preferentially select sharper histograms for data embedding after $K$ histograms are established by constructing the $k$th ($k\in \{1,2,\dots ,K\}$) histogram using the $k$th non-zero alternating current (AC) coefficient of all the quantized discrete cosine transform blocks. On the other hand, to fully exploit the strong correlation between coefficients of one histogram, the smoothness of each coefficient is estimated by a block smoothness estimator so that a sharply-distributed 2D-histogram is constructed by combining two coefficients with similar smoothness into a pair. The pair corresponding to low complexity is selected priorly for data embedding, leading to high embedding performance while maintaining low file size. Besides, we design multiple embedding strategies to adaptively select the embedding strategy for each 2D histogram. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can achieve higher rate–distortion performance which maintaining lower file storage space, compared with previous studies.     

分区域的医学图像高容量无损信息隐藏方法

针对医学图像的分区域典型特征,提出一种基于区域和直方图平移的高容量无损信息隐藏方法。本方法用最大类间距分割法求得原始图像的前景区域,再用聚合多边形逼近和图像拟合法得到其数据嵌入区域。在数据嵌入过程中,提出利用差值直方图循环平移和基于编码的直方图平移方法分别在前景和背景区域嵌入数据,提高了原始直方图平移方法容量和解决了溢出问题。实验结果表明该方法总的嵌入容量可达1 bit/packet以上,并且隐秘图像质量在40dB左右,适用于具有区域特征的质量敏感图像的大容量信息隐藏。     

基于重复压缩的密文图像可逆数据隐藏方法

为了提高密文图像上的可逆数据隐藏方法的性能,在加密前处理图像以获得数据嵌入空间。首先,分析了在解压缩分块上进行可逆嵌入的可行性;其次,计算了成功恢复解压缩分块的理论概率;最后,提出了基于解压缩分块的密文图像可逆数据隐藏算法,主要过程包括预处理、加密、数据嵌入、数据提取与图像恢复。从图像恢复错误率、嵌入容量和PSNR这3个方面与3种已有方法进行对比,表明所提方法实现了数据提取和图像解密在操作上的完全分离,且图像恢复错误率更低,嵌入容量更大,PSNR更高。     

Encrypted signal-based reversible data hiding with public key cryptosystem

Encrypted image-based reversible data hiding (EIRDH) is a well-known method allowing that (1) the image provider gives the data hider an encrypted image, (2) the data hider embeds the secret message into it to generate the encrypted image with the embedded secret message to the receiver, and (3) finally the receiver can extract the message and recover the original image without encryption. In the literature, the data hider and image provider must be specific parties who know the shared key with the receiver in traditional encrypted image-based reversible data hiding. In this paper, we propose an encrypted signal-based reversible data hiding (ESRDH) with public key cryptosystem, not only for images. The proposed scheme is secure based on Paillier homomorphic encryption. Finally, the experimental results show that the proposed scheme has much payload and high signal quality.