Robust additive watermarking in the DTCWT domain based on perceptual masking

Multimedia Tools and Applications - In this paper, a robust additive image watermarking system operating in the Dual Tree Complex Wavelet Transform (DTCWT) domain is proposed. The system takes...     

Ambiguity attacks on SVD audio watermarking approach using chaotic encrypted images

In this paper, we study the robustness of the proposed watermarking algorithm by Al-Nuaimy et al. (Digit Signal Process 21(6):764–779 2011) for audio signals which is based on singular value decomposition (SVD). It has been concluded that it is fundamentally flawed in its design, in that it falls to two ambiguity attacks where the extracted watermark is not the embedded one but determined by the reference watermark. In the first attack, when a watermarked audio signal is rewatermarked by an attacker’s watermark, this one can be easily extracted to claim ownership of the original audio signal. In the second attack, during the extracting process when an attacker uses the singular vectors of his watermark, he can extract the attacker’s watermark. Therefore, he can claim ownership of the watermarked audio signal. The experimental results prove that the proposed attacks create a false positive detection in watermark extraction. Therefore, Al-Nuaimy et al. algorithm cannot be used for security systems, data hiding and copyright protection.

     

Efficient and secure cryptosystem for fingerprint images in wavelet domain

In this paper, a fingerprint image encryption algorithm is proposed in order to enhance the protection of fingerprint-based systems against replay attacks. The proposed algorithm is consisting of permutation and diffusion operations in wavelet domain, whereas, one-level Lifting Wavelet Transform Integer-to-Integer is performed to the original fingerprint image. The approximation and detail sub-bands are then partitioned into blocks and permuted using a permutation key. It is noteworthy that, for each sub-band the Rubik’s cube principle is applied. The encrypted image is constructed by ordering the encrypted sub-bands. Eventually, an experimental tests and security analysis were conducted on three fingerprint images attained through Fingerprint Verification Competition “FVC 2000” database. The obtained results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed encryption algorithm and clearly show the robustness against common attacks, for example differential and statistical attacks. In addition, it reveals the high security level achieved.