Transparent encryption with scalable video communication: Lower-latency,CABAC-based schemes

Selective encryption masks all of the content without completely hiding it, as full encryption would do at a cost in encryption delay and increased bandwidth. Many commercial applications of video encryption do not even require selective encryption, because greater utility can be gained from transparent encryption, i.e. allowing prospective viewers to glimpse a reduced quality version of the content as a taster. Our lightweight selective encryption scheme when applied to scalable video coding is well suited to transparent encryption. The paper illustrates the gains in reducing delay and increased distortion arising from a transparent encryption that leaves reduced quality base layer in the clear. Reduced encryption of B-frames is a further step beyond transparent encryption in which the computational overhead reduction is traded against content security and limited distortion. This spectrum of video encryption possibilities is analyzed in this paper, though all of the schemes maintain decoder compatibility and add no bitrate overhead as a result of jointly encoding and encrypting the input video by virtue of carefully selecting the entropy coding parameters that are encrypted. The schemes are suitable both for H.264 and HEVC codecs, though demonstrated in the paper for H.264. Selected Content Adaptive Binary Arithmetic Coding (CABAC) parameters are encrypted by a lightweight Exclusive OR technique, which is chosen for practicality.     

基于H.264的新型视频加密算法

本文提出了一种新的基于H.264标准的视频加密算法结构。使用改进的FMO机制(advanced-FMO mechanism)将具有相关性的宏块打入不同的Slice中,通过对FMO子图的加密达到对整个视频内容进行加密的目的。本文提出的加密算法具有很高的实时性,加密过程可以和编码过程并行执行。同时本算法还可以和传统的加扰算法结合,进一步提高视频的加密效果。     

A novel selective encryption scheme for H.264/AVC video with improved visual security

As cloud storage becomes more popular, concerns about data leakage have been increasing. Encryption techniques can be used to protect privacy of videos stored in the cloud. However, the recently proposed sketch attack for encrypted H.264/AVC video, which is based on the macroblock bitstream size (MBS), can generate the outline images of both intra-frames and inter-frames from a video encrypted by most existing encryption schemes; thus, the protection of the original video may be considered a failure. In this paper, a novel selective encryption scheme for H.264/AVC video with improved visual security is presented. Two different scrambling strategies that do not destroy the format compatibility are proposed to change the relative positions between macroblocks in intra-frames and inter-frames respectively, which in turn substantially distort the sketched outline images so that they do not disclose meaningful information. Moreover, the sign bits of non-zero DCT coefficients are encrypted to contribute to the visual security of our scheme, and an adaptive encryption key related to the intra prediction mode and the DCT coefficient distribution of each frame is employed to provide further security. The experimental results show that our encryption scheme can achieve a better visual scrambling effect with a small adverse impact on the video file size. Furthermore, the security analysis demonstrates that our scheme can successfully resist the MBS sketch attack compared with other related schemes. The proposed method is also proven secure against some other known attacks.     

一种基于FMO置乱的视频加密算法研究

通过分析H．264提出的灵活宏块排序（FMO）的特点,提出了一种随机置乱FMO—map的视频加密方案。此方案通过产生一个随机顺序的码表来置乱FMO—map来达到视频流加密的效果,另外将加密后的随机置乱码表并行输出。通过分析证明此方案在安全性、压缩比改变率和计算复杂度方面都具有良好的性能,能使视频图像的传输具有较好的安全性和实时性。     

Smart selective encryption of H.264/AVC videos using confidentiality metrics

In the field of video protection, selective encryption (SE) is a scheme which ensures the visual security of a video by encrypting only a small part of the data. This paper presents a new SE algorithm for H.264/AVC videos in context-adaptive variable-length coding mode. This algorithm controls the amount of encrypted alternative coefficients (ACs) of the integer transform in the entropic encoder. Two visual quality measures, the peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and the structural similarity (SSIM), are used to measure the visual confidentiality level of each video frame and to control the amount of encrypted ACs. Moreover, a new psychovisual metric to measure the flickering is introduced, the so-called temporal structural similarity (TSSIM). This method can be applied on intra and inter frame video sequences. Several experimental results show the efficiency of the proposed method.     

基于局域网的混沌视频加密研究与实现

提出了在嵌入式平台上实现混沌视频保密通信的新方式,将基于H.264的视频编解码器移植到Cortex-A8 ARM开发板上,利用H.264编码器对已经混沌加密的视频进行压缩,再通过局域网传输到另一块ARM开发板上进行解码和解密。实验结果证明:该系统不但加密效果好,而且也能快速可靠地传输,满足了实时视频加密通信的要求。     

Secure transcoders for single layer video data

This paper considers the use of selective encryption systems for compressed video data that can support transcoding of the encrypted bit-streams without the need for decryption and re-encryption. The focus is on the use of the H.264 video codec. However, the concepts can be easily extended to any video coding standard.I-frame encryption encrypts only the intra frames, making it suitable for use with modified interframe transcoders that operate only on P and B frames. These interframe transcoders are found to offer improved performance for un-encrypted data, due to the temporal propagation of the higher quality of I-frames. The operations of both interframe open loop transcoding and Fast Pixel Domain Transcoding (FPDT) are unaffected by I-frame encryption yielding identical results. However, the lack of I-frame data causes a significant drift problem when I-frame encryption is used with a more complete Cascaded Pixel Domain Transcoder (CPDT). A modified CPDT is proposed, called Intra Block Copy (IBC) transcoding, which offers improved performance at the expense of a reduced range of possible output bitrates.Sign bit encryption systems such as Real-time Video Encryption Algorithm (RVEA) offer improved security compared to I-frame encryption. However transcoding this data can result in some sign bits being omitted causing a loss of cipher synchronization. A novel sign bit encryption technique called Synchronous Video Encryption Algorithm (SVEA) is proposed that preserves the cipher synchronization. While the operation of open loop transcoding systems is unaffected, the encryption interferes with the drift compensation in the more complex transcoders, leading to reduced performance.     

基于H.264/AVC视频安全级别可分的加密方案

针对当前视频数据易复制、易篡改等特征,为了保护视频数据的安全,提出了一种基于H.264/AVC视频编码标准的视频加密方案.利用流密码加密简单、运算速度快等优点,采用高级加密标准(AES)的密码反馈模式(CFB)对H.264/AVC标准的序列参数集(SPS)、图像参数集(PPS)中能加密的语法元素和Ⅰ帧的码流进行加密.针对不同视频应用所需求的安全级别不同,在宏块级别选取一定数量的宏块进行选择性加密,得到安全级别可分的加密方案.最后,从算法的安全性、实时性、压缩率等方面进行分析.实验结果表明,该算法达到了视频内容安全的要求,满足实时性,并且减少了加密数据量.     

Scalable video encryption of H.264 SVC Codec

A new algorithm for encrypting H.264 SVC (Scalable Video Codec) video data is developed. Security requirements of encoded video are examined together with constraints arising from structural properties of the SVC software. Performance analysis of the new algorithm is reported and its strength against cryptanalysis attacks is discussed. It has been demonstrated that the new algorithm has almost no overhead with low level encryption and acceptable overhead for high level encryption that leads to totally unperceivable video.     

一种基于H.264的视频加密算法研究

H.264是一个面向未来IP和无线网络的视频编码标准,应用范围越来越广泛,因而安全加密技术逐步成为研究的热点。论文针对H.264的特点,提出一种利用数据加密标准DES的输出反馈模式OFB对H.264少量视频数据进行加密的算法,所选取的数据来自于DCT变换后的DC及部分AC系数。理论分析和实验结果表明,该算法选择加密部分视频数据,减小了加密的数据量,从而降低了加密系统的计算复杂度,具有较快的加解密速度,提高了实时性和安全性,且适合于移动多媒体、无线多媒体网络的数据流的安全传送。     

Adaptation–aware encryption of scalable H.264/AVC video for content security

Data encryption is one of the key information security technologies used for safeguarding multimedia content from unauthorised access and manipulation in end-to-end delivery and access chains. This technology, combined with the appropriate cryptographic methods, effectively prevents the content against malicious attacks, so as to protect its authenticity as well as integrity. While encryption-based security is ensuring the authorised consumption of the multimedia content, content adaptation technologies have the primary goal of providing means for wider dissemination of the content across diverse networks, devices and users, and thus enriching user satisfaction and experience of the delivered content within a given set of usage environment constraints. Traditionally, protected contents can only be adapted at trusted adaptation engines residing between the source and end-users, since they have to be fully decrypted before performing the necessary adaptation operations. The drawback of such a process is that it significantly limits the availability and flexibility of adaptation engines applicable for adapting protected contents on the fly. Thus, this paper proposes a novel scalable H.264/advanced video coding (AVC)-compatible video encryption technique, which is also transparent to adaptation engines in an end-to-end video delivery scenario. The proposed technology relies on keeping syntax elements required for performing the adaptation operations clear (i.e., not encrypted). The effectiveness of the proposed technique has been successfully verified in scenarios, where both conventional joint scalable video model (JSVM) bit stream extracting and random packet dropping mechanisms are used.     

Hash key-based video encryption scheme for H.264/AVC

An improved H.264/AVC comprehensive video encryption scheme is proposed. In the proposed scheme, the intra-prediction mode, motion vector difference, and quantization coefficients are encrypted. A novel hierarchical key generation method is likewise proposed, in which the encryption keys are generated based on the cryptographic hash function. Generated frame keys are consistent with the corresponding frame serial numbers, which can ensure frame synchronization in the decrypting process when frame loss occurs. This function provides the property that our scheme is secure against some special attacks for video, such as the frame regrouping attack and frame erasure attack. Our method not only avoids the distribution of encryption keys, but also increases the security. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme is efficient in computing, the encryption process does not affect the compression ratio greatly, and the encryption/decryption process hardly affects the video quality.     

Quality-efficient syntax element-based de-interlacing method for H.264-coded video sequences with various resolutions

In this paper, we propose a novel quality-efficient de-interlacing method for H.264-coded video sequences with various resolutions. In the proposed method, using the syntax elements provided in H.264 bitstreams, four new and efficient strategies are delivered for inter-coded macroblocks to improve the quality of de-interlaced video sequences as well as alleviate the error propagation side effect. Based on the real and generated interlaced video sequences with various common resolutions, experimental results demonstrate the proposed de-interlacing method achieves better quality in terms of both objective and subjective measures when compared with the recently published method by Dong and Ngan.     

Efficient in-network adaptation of encrypted H.264/SVC content

This paper addresses the efficient adaptation of encrypted scalable video content (H.264/SVC). RTP-based in-network adaptation schemes on a media aware network element (MANE) in an IPTV and VoD scenario are considered.Two basic alternatives to implement encryption and adaptation of H.264/SVC content are investigated: (i) full, format-independent encryption making use of Secure RTP (SRTP); (ii) SVC-specific encryption that leaves the metadata relevant for adaptation (NAL unit headers) unencrypted.The SRTP-based scheme (i) is straightforward to deploy, but requires the MANE to be in the security context of the delivery, i.e., to be a trusted node. For adaptation, the content needs to be decrypted, scaled, and re-encrypted. The SVC-specific approach (ii) enables both full and selective encryption, e.g., of the base layer only. SVC-specific encryption is based on own previous work, which is substantially extended and detailed in this paper. The adaptation MANE can now be an untrusted node; adaptation becomes a low-complexity process, avoiding full decryption and re-encryption of the content.This paper presents the first experimental comparison of these two approaches and evaluates whether multimedia-specific encryption can lead to performance and application benefits. Potential security threats and security properties of the two approaches in the IPTV and VoD scenario are elementarily analyzed. In terms of runtime performance on the MANE our SVC-specific encryption scheme significantly outperforms the SRTP-based approach. SVC-specific encryption is also superior in terms of induced end-to-end delays. The performance can even be improved by selective application of the SVC-specific encryption scheme. The results indicate that the efficient adaptation of SVC-encrypted content on low-end, untrusted network devices is feasible.     

基于CABAC的视觉质量可控的H.264视频感知加密算法

在视频点播等应用中,为了刺激消费者购买高质量的视频,需要对视频进行特别的感知加密,使视频加密后仍然部分可见。该文提出一种Context-based Adaptive Binary Arithmetic Coding (CABAC)的视觉质量可控的快速感知加密算法。利用2D超混沌系统生成的流密码对重要的语法元素和敏感的编码元素异或加密。加密内容包括运动矢量差的符号位、非零系数符号位和语法元素significant_coeff_flag。分析及实验结果表明,提出的感知加密算法对码率无影响,编码时间仅增加7左右,视频质量随着质量因子的改变而变化,满足视频感知加密的应用需求。     

Bitstream-Oriented Protection for the H.264/Scalable Video Coding (SVC)

The newly standardized H.264/SVC enable multimedia suppliers to provide video bitstream with temporal, spatial and quality scalabilities to meet various needs of end users. Its bitstream scalability characteristic is also especially suitable for multimedia applications under merged heterogeneous networks with different network protocols, capacities and throughputs. Although the network environment, to some extent, provides security protection against the illegal users, it is not enough to protect against the authorized users from digesting contents beyond its authorization. Hence the issue of content protection for the H.264/SVC has aroused researchers’ interests in recent years. In this paper, we present an efficient bitstream-oriented protection scheme for the H.264/SVC in a compression friendly and format compliant manner. The encryption is implemented on the Network Abstraction Layer (NAL) unit level. To improve the computational efficiency as well as to provide sufficient security, selective cryptographic algorithms with different computation cost are employed for different content level of SVC according to its significance. The I slice NAL units from the base layer of SVC bitstream are encrypted with the symmetric AES algorithm in Cipher Block Chaining mode. And the other NAL units are protected by simplified XOR cipher. Furthermore, a robust key management (key generation and distribution) mechanism is also discussed in this paper. The security analysis and simulation results further verify that the proposed methods can effectively protect the H.264/SVC bitstream at low computational cost.     

An improved scheme for data hiding in encrypted H.264/AVC videos

Recently, a novel scheme to hide data into encrypted H.264/AVC videos using code-word substitution has been proposed by Xu et al. However, the statistical analysis of CAVLC code-words demonstrate that Xu et al.’s work does not fully exploit redundancy existing in CAVLC code-word for data embedding. In this paper, an improved version of Xu et al.’s data hiding method in encrypted H.264/AVC videos is proposed. Specifically, when suffixLength is equal to 1, data embedding is performed by paired code-word substitution. When suffixLength is greater than 2, not the single code-word substitution but the multiple-based notational system is adopted for data embedding. Experimental results have demonstrated that the improved method is indeed capable of providing a larger embedding capacity in comparison with Xu et al.’s method. Moreover, both encryption and data embedding can be accomplished without affecting the coding efficiency of H.264/AVC by keeping exactly the same bitrate.     

Privacy‐Preserving H.264 Video Encryption Scheme

As a growing number of individuals are exposed to surveillance cameras, the need to prevent captured videos from being used inappropriately has increased. Privacy‐related information can be protected through video encryption during transmission or storage, and several algorithms have been proposed for such purposes. However, the simple way of evaluating the security by counting the number of brute‐force trials is not proper for measuring the security of video encryption algorithms, considering that attackers can devise specially crafted attacks for specific purposes by exploiting the characteristics of the target video codec. In this paper, we introduce a new attack for recovering contour information from encrypted H.264 video. The attack can thus be used to extract face outlines for the purpose of personal identification. We analyze the security of previous video encryption schemes against the proposed attack and show that the security of these schemes is lower than expected in terms of privacy protection. To enhance security, an advanced block shuffling method is proposed, an analysis of which shows that it is more secure than the previous method and can be an improvement against the proposed attack.     

基于达芬奇平台的H.264视频流加密终端的设计

设计了基于TI公司达芬奇芯片TMS320DM6446的H.264视频流选择加密终端.针对H.264视频编码结构的特点,提出一种基于数据分割模式的视频流选择加密策略,详细描述了终端的硬件系统和软件设计.实验结果表明,待加密的数据量大为减少,能够对CIF格式H.264视频流进行实时加密.     

Transparent encryption techniques for H.264/AVC and H.264/SVC compressed video

Transparent encryption of video content requires to provide a video preview that is left in plaintext, while the enhancement information is encrypted. In this paper we propose three algorithms that provide transparent encryption. The first two ones are based on the idea of generating controlled drift in such a way as to obtain the desired quality level, while the third algorithm employs scalable video coding. We provide experimental results on several video sequences, as well as a security analysis, showing that the proposed algorithms provide an effective framework to perform transparent encryption.