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Advanced internet technology allows unauthorized individuals to modify and distribute digital images. Image watermarking is a popular solution for copyright protection and ensuring digital security. This research presents an embedding scheme with a set of conditions using non-subsampled Shearlet transform (NSST), lifting wavelet transform (LWT), and discrete cosine transform (DCT). Red and green channels are employed for the embedding process. The red channel is converted by NSST-LWT. The low-frequency area (LL) frequency is then split into small blocks of 8×8, each partition block is then transformed by DCT. The DCT coefficient of (3,4), (5,2), (5,3), (3,5), called matrix M1, and (2,5), (4,3), (6,2), (4,4), called matrix M2 are selected for singular value decomposition (SVD) process. With a set of conditions, the watermark bits are incorporated into those singular values. The green channel is cropped to get the center image before splitting into 4×4 pixels. The block components are then selected based on the least entropy value for the embedding regions. The selected blocks are then computed using LWT-SVD. A set of conditions for U(1,1) and U(2,1) are used to incorporate the watermark logo. The experimental findings reveal that the suggested scheme achieves high imperceptibility and resilience under various evaluating attacks with an average peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and correlation value (NC) values are up to 43.89 dB and 0.96, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new robust scheme to provide copy protection services to Deep Nural Network (DNN) models using digital watermarks. The rationale of the proposed technique is that robustness can be achieved by embedding a large watermark that can span the whole watermark. If an adversary attempts to destroy the watermark, he will end up destroying the DNN model. However, maximizing the embedding capacity will strongly degrade the performance of the DNN model. To control the performance-capacity-robustness trade-of, the proposed scheme utilizes the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) due to its strong compaction property, which becomes even stronger when applied to correlated segments of data. Therefore, the proposed technique extracts the DNN weights and groups them within correlated segments before applying the DCT. The experimental results have proven the effectiveness of the proposed DNN watermarking scheme as it was able to embed 1.73 Mb of data with only a 1.4% drop in the classification accuracy of a standard Residual Neural Network with 21 Convolutional layers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Present age is the age of technology where we are all flooded with digital data. As the use of data is increasing day by day, the techniques and algorithms for data manipulation are also increasing at a rapid rate. The advancement in technology has brought about a revolution which has led to identification of various ways and techniques for modification and enhancement of images. On the other hand it also brings various challenges with respect to the prevention of tampering, forging or misuse of electronic data in form of image, audio or video. Digital watermarking can prove to be a very useful technique in prevention of any such scenario. Verifying the integrity of delicate images, such as medical photos, is crucial since even the smallest distortion or alteration might lead to a wrong diagnosis. Especially in digital images, watermarking techniques give protection from any such attack to a large extent. This research paper proposes a novel approach to digital image watermarking using a combination of Fibonacci scrambling, rotational embedding, and the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT). The objective of the proposed algorithm is to bolster the security and resilience of the watermarking process through the incorporation of supplementary encryption and obfuscation mechanisms. We have implemented the code for this algorithm in Python. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital watermarking is an essential tool for numerous applications, and the quality of watermarked images must be assessed using accurate criteria. Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR), a widely used image assessment metric, has limits when evaluating images containing noise, such as watermarks. To tackle such kind of issues this, this study investigates a different assessment metric, the Neutrosophic Similarity Measure, and assesses its performance in evaluating watermarked images when compared to PSNR. Similarities to ascertain whether the neutrosophic similarity Measure has a higher noise tolerance and offers a more accurate evaluation of watermarked images. The results show that Neutrosophic Similarity Measure overcomes PSNR in capturing the influence of additive watermarks and demonstrating superior noise tolerance through experimental evaluation on a dataset of watermarked images. These findings highlight the possibility of adopting new assessment metric, such as neutrosophic similarity measure, for assessing watermarked images, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of evaluating watermarked Images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A zero-watermarking algorithm for color image based on lifting wavelet transform (LWT), singular value decomposition (SVD) and chaotic system is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the characteristics of a 5-D chaotic system are analyzed by phase diagrams, Lyapunov exponent spectrums and bifurcation diagrams. The initial conditions of the chaotic system are changed by hash value calculated from the watermark image. Then, feature information of low-frequency region of color image is extracted by LWT, and the maximum singular value is obtained by improved SVD. Based on chaos correction factor, the feature matrix can be extracted and encrypted by SVD simultaneously. And the watermark image is composed of meaningful single watermark or combined watermark. Finally, zero-watermarking is generated by encryption and logical operation of feature matrix and watermark image. During authentication, the watermark image can be extracted from the color image and the registered zero-watermarking, and the copyright ownership can be determined according to the registration time. This algorithm can effectively protect image copyright without changing image and has good robustness. Experiments verify the effectiveness of the algorithm and its ability to resist filtering, compression, rotation, noise and clipping attacks, and the NC value of each attack is higher than 89%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Protecting the integrity of images has become a growing concern due to the ease of manipulation and unauthorized dissemination of visual content. This article presents a comprehensive approach to safeguarding images' authenticity and reliability through watermarking techniques. The main goal is to develop effective strategies that preserve the visual quality of images and are resistant to various attacks. The work focuses on developing a watermarking algorithm in Python, implemented with embedding in the spatial domain, transformation in the frequency domain, and pixel modification techniques. A thorough evaluation of efficiency, accuracy, and robustness is performed using numerical metrics and visual assessment to validate the embedded watermarks. The results demonstrate the algorithm's effectiveness in protecting the integrity of the images, although some attacks may cause visible degradation. Likewise, a comparison with related works is made to highlight the relevance and effectiveness of the proposed techniques. It is concluded that watermarks are presented as an additional layer of protection in applications where the authenticity and integrity of the image are essential. In addition, the importance of future research that addresses perspectives for improvement and new applications to strengthen the protection of the goodness of pictures and other digital media is highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the Watermark Imaging System (WImSy) which can be used to photograph, document, and study sheets of paper. The WImSy provides surface images, raking light images, and transmitted light images of the paper, all in perfect alignment. We develop algorithms that exploit this alignment by combining several images together in a process that mimics both the "surface image removal" technique and the method of "high dynamic range" photographs. An improved optimization criterion and an automatic parameter selection procedure streamline the process and make it practical for art historians and conservators to extract the relevant information to study watermarks. The effectiveness of the method is demonstrated in several experiments on images taken with the WImSy at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and the results are compared with manually optimized images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Illegal distribution of digital data is a common danger in the film industry, especially with the rapid spread of the Internet, where it is now possible to easily distribute pirated copies of digital video on a global scale. The Watermarking system inserts invisible signs to the video content without changing the content itself. The aim of this paper is to build an invisible video watermarking system with high imperceptibility. Firstly, the watermark is confused by using the Arnold transform and then dividing into equal, non-overlapping blocks. Each block is then embedded in a specific frame using the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT), where the HL band is used for this purpose. Regarding the method of selecting the host frames, the chaotic map (tent map) was used to choose a number of frames which are greater or equal to the number of blocks of the watermark. The host frame selection method makes the discovery of the watermark information by illegal means very complicated. The experimental results show that the proposed method can produce excellent transparency with robustness against some attacks where the average_ PSNR reaches to 72.806. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel dual watermarking scheme with potential applications in identity protection, media integrity maintenance and copyright protection in both electronic and printed media is presented. The proposed watermarking scheme uses the owner's signature and fingerprint as watermarks through which the ownership and validity of the media can be proven and kept intact. To begin with, the proposed watermarking scheme is implemented on continuous-tone/greyscale images, and later extended to images achieved via multitoning, an advanced version of halftoning-based printing. The proposed watermark embedding is robust and imperceptible. Experimental simulations and evaluations of the proposed method show excellent results from both objective and subjective view-points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every day, a tremendous amount of image data is generated as a result of recent advances in imaging and computing technology. Several content-based image retrieval (CBIR) approaches have been introduced for searching image collections. These methods, however, involve greater computing and storage resources. Cloud servers can address this issue by offering a large amount of computational power at a low cost. However, cloud servers are not completely trustworthy, and data owners are concerned about the privacy of their personal information. In this research, we propose and implement a secure CBIR (SCBIR) strategy for searching and retrieving cipher text image databases. In the proposed scheme, the extract aggregated feature vectors to represent the related image collection and use a safe Asymmetric Scalar-Product-Preserving Encryption (ASPE) approach to encrypt these vectors while still allowing for similarity computation. To improve search time, all encrypted features are recursively clustered using the k-means method to create a tree index. The results reveal that SCBIR is faster at indexing and retrieving than earlier systems, with superior retrieval precision and scalability. In addition, our paper introduces the watermark to discover any illegal distributions of the images that are received by unlawful data users. Particularly, the cloud server integrates a unique watermark directly into the encrypted images before sending them to the data users. As a result, if an unapproved image copy is revealed, the watermark can be extracted and the unauthorized data users who spread the image can be identified. The performance of the proposed scheme is proved, while its performance is demonstrated through experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The techniques of data hiding have turned out to be one of the prominent factors to ensure security and confidentiality of the communication network adopting untrustworthy and insecure means to transfer delicate information. This paper proposes a novel watermarking scheme that has used Differential Evolution(DE) optimization algorithm to efficiently hide data. The key factors of any watermarking scheme are imperceptibility and robustness. The present work has tried to gain the relevant degree of optimization between these two disagreeable factors by using the optimization technique of DE. The novelty of this paper lies in: (i) the proposed method applies DE on the pixel intensities of host image to locate the cognitively insignificant regions, (ii) the scaling factor of DE is so chosen, that when the same mathematical value of scaling factor is applied to embed watermark, it can keep the trade-off between imperceptibility and robustness. The resultant covert regions are capable to uphold a high level of transparency and are robust enough to survive against attacks. The method is carried out in the spatial domain. Experimental output depicts that the proposed method maintains competent image quality. Nevertheless, the watermark can still be recognized after various attacks even if it is distorted by a significant amount. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a method for transparent watermarking of high-capacity watermarked video under H.265/HEVC (High-Efficiency Video Coding) compression conditions while maintaining high-quality encoded image. The aim of this paper is to present a method for watermark embedding using neural networks under conditions of subjecting video to lossy compression of the HEVC codec using the YUV420p color model chrominance channel for watermarking. This paper presents a method for training a deep neural network to embed a watermark when a compression channel is present. The discussed method is characterized by high accuracy of the video with an embedded watermark compared to the original. The PSNR (peak signal-to-noise ratio) values obtained are over 44 dB. The watermark capacity is 96 bits for an image with a resolution of 128 × 128. The method enables the complete recovery of a watermark from a single video frame compressed by the HEVC codec within the range of compression values defined by the CRF (constant rate factor) up to 22. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the feature of speech and image signals are carried out from two perspectives, the time domain and the frequency domain. The speech and image signals are a non-stationary signal, so FT is not used for the non-stationary characteristics of the signal. When short-term stable speech is obtained by windowing and framing the subsequent processing of the signal is completed by the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT). The Fast Discrete Fourier Transform is a commonly used analysis method for speech and image signal processing in frequency domain. It has the problem of adjusting window size to a for desired resolution. But the Fractional Fourier Transform can have both time domain and frequency domain processing capabilities. This paper performs global processing speech encryption by combining speech with image of Fractional Fourier Transform. The speech signal is embedded watermark image that is processed by fractional transformation, and the embedded watermark has the effect of rotation and superposition, which improves the security of the speech. The paper results show that the proposed speech encryption method has a higher security level by Fractional Fourier Transform. The technology is easy to extend to practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new watermarking scheme that is screen-shooting resilient. We try to design a watermarking scheme that can resist the distortion generated during the screen-shooting process while has a good invisibility. While embedding, we utilize the stability of the singular value matrix in terms of sign invariance to improve the robustness of our watermarking scheme. We use scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) algorithm to help with locating different embedding regions to embed repeatedly to further improve robustness. While extracting, we located more regions compared with embedding process to enhance the error-tolerant rate. Compared with the previous method, our watermarking scheme has a larger embedding capacity while performing better in terms of robustness and invisibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Superimposing visible watermarks on images is an efficient way to indicate ownership and prevent potential unauthorized use. Visible watermark removal technology is receiving increasing attention from researchers due to its ability to enhance the robustness of visible watermarks. In this paper, we propose MNet, a novel multi-scale network for visible watermark removal. In MNet, a variable number of simple U-Nets are stacked in each scale. There are two branches in MNet, i.e., the background restoration branch and the mask prediction branch. In the background restoration branch, we propose a different approach from current methods. Instead of directly reconstructing the background image, we pay great attention to predicting the anti-watermark image. In the watermark mask prediction branch, we adopt dice loss. This further supervises the predicted mask for better prediction accuracy. To make information flow more effective, we employ cross-layer feature fusion and intra-layer feature fusion among U-Nets. Moreover, a scale reduction module is employed to capture multi-scale information effectively. Our approach is evaluated on three different datasets, and the experimental results show that our approach achieves better performance than other state-of-the-art methods. Code will be available at https://github.com/Aitchson-Hwang/MNet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a method of high-capacity and transparent watermarking based on the usage of deep neural networks with the adjustable subsquares properties algorithm to encode the data of a watermark in high-quality video using the H.265/HEVC (High-Efficiency Video Coding) codec. The aim of the article is to present a method of embedding a watermark in a video with HEVC codec compression by making changes in a video in a way that is not noticeable to the naked eye. The method presented here is characterised by focusing on ensuring the accuracy of the original image in relation to the watermarked image, providing the transparency of the embedded watermark, while ensuring its survival after compression by the HEVC codec. The article includes a presentation of the practical results of watermark embedding with a built-in variation mechanism of its capacity and resistance, thanks to the adjustable subsquares properties algorithm. The obtained PSNR (peak signal-to-noise ratio) results are at the level of 40 dB or better. There is the possibility of the complete recovery of a watermark from a single frame compressed in the CRF (constant rate factor) range of up to 16, resulting in a BER (bit error rate) equal to 0 for the received watermark. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we report on the high image quality, large data capacity, and low computational cost of a distributed data embedding watermarking scheme that uses a Max-plus algebra-based Morphological wavelet Transform (MMT). Previously, we evaluated the basic MMT watermarking scheme for image quality and robustness against image compression attacks defined by the Information Hiding and its Criteria (IHC). The proposed distributed data embedding scheme focuses on middle frequency signal-groups after the MMT decomposition process for embedding watermarks. During the experiments for evaluating scheme capability, we processed 12 benchmark images using the proposed watermarking scheme. The proposed method records to increase the Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Structural SIMilarity index (SSIM) values. For example, the PSNR value of the middle frequency is improved by 6 dB (24 to 30 dB) higher than that of the high-frequency value. The proposed scheme can keep 30 dB for embedding 12 bits of the watermark in the transformed image of all benchmark images. The SSIM value of the middle frequency is about 1.15 (0.88 to 0.98) times higher than the high-frequency value. Thus, all benchmark images of the SSIM values achieve up to 0.5 when the watermark data of 24-bit are embedded using the proposed distributed scheme. The processing performance on the mobile processor is approximately equal to previous studies despite better image quality. The distributed data embedding scheme indicates the possibility of obtaining practical results compared with related studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, consumer vehicles have increasingly begun to resemble computers on wheels, with many newer vehicles containing over 100 independent electronic control units (ECU) that make independent decisions within the vehicle. Cost and power constraints for the vehicle significantly constrain processing capabilities and limitations on practical cybersecurity measures that may be employed in the vehicle today. Also, as automotive manufacturers are continuous integrators, many legacy communications links within vehicles were originally designed as standalone entities that assumed internal trust of communications between ECUs by virtue of closed bus structures and an emphasis on reliability, but not security. This paper presents a low-cost authentication mechanism to significantly improve message validation on wired message buses such as the Controller Area Network (CAN) bus by employing a co-channel underlay watermark that arrives time-aligned with the primary bus messages. Concept validation using a gate-level Simulink / HDL Coder simulation provided initial feasibility, while a complete CAN bus hardware testbed was constructed with a custom CAN transceiver built on a Red Pitaya software defined radio (SDR) connected to multiple commercial CAN transceivers to validate backwards compatibility. This testbed incorporates a custom transmission security (TRANSEC) engine that supports dynamic variation of the watermark, further improving security during deployment. Finally, this custom CAN testbed with the watermarking CAN transceiver was tested across a range of operational conditions, with initial performance results presented and discussed. Future work describes potential for near-term ruggedization and productization of the watermarking CAN transceiver. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a literature review is presented to examine the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) based digital image watermarking techniques since 2010, apart from the very basic articles. General features of the digital watermarking, frequency domain & spatial domain watermarking techniques, DCT and various watermarking researches with DCT in last decade were stated. The studies were classified according to the application methods of DCT, features of the watermarking technique, watermark extraction method, robustness, and usage area. Results have shown that DCT has increased the robustness of watermarking by performing with a union of several methods from simple to complex. In this case, the main purpose of this study can be considered as making a compilation of DCT techniques and preparing an information note that can be a reference for those working in this field. For the future studies to improve watermarking with DCT, a combination between machine learning and optimization techniques would be preferred. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though the Internet promotes data sharing and transparency, however it does not protect digital content. In today's digital world, it has become a difficult task to release a DRM (Digital Rights Management) system that can be considered well-protected. Digital content that becomes easily available in open-source environments will in time be worthless to the creator. There may only be a one-time payment to creators upon initial upload to a given platform after which time the rights of the intellectual property are shifted to the platform itself. However, due to the online availability of content, anyone can download content and make copies. The value of digital content slowly decreases, because the value of content can usually be determined through the difficulty of it's accessibility. There is no way to track the leakage or copyright for the spread of digital material. In this paper, a distributed media transaction framework for DRM is proposed, which is based on the digital watermarking and a scalable blockchain model. In this paper, our focus is on improving the classic blockchain systems to make it suitable for a DRM model. The DRM model in this paper allows only authorized users to use online content and provide original multimedia content. While the digital watermarking is used to reclaim the copyright ownership of offline contents in the event when the contents are leaked. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reversible watermarking is an important method of information hiding, which has been widely used in copyright protection of relational data. Reversible watermarking is more advanced than its predecessors in many ways. It can be used not only to claim copyright but also to recover the original data. However, existing schemes do not allow control of the extent of data recovery. Watermarked data are either completely restored to the original version or kept unchanged. After analyzing the current problems, a graded reversible watermarking scheme for relational data is proposed here. By removing the arbitrary portion of the watermark, data quality can be enhanced incrementally. The notion of data quality grade is defined to describe the impact of watermark embedding on the usability of data. Four fundamental algorithms are designed to facilitate the processes of watermark embedding, data quality grade detection, watermark detection, and data quality grade enhancement. Before data distribution, numbers of data quality grades can be predefined. Graded reversibility can be achieved by upgrading watermarked data from low to higher data quality grades. A watermark with any data quality grade is enough to claim copyright. With watermarks embedded into different data partitions, flexible watermark reversion can be achieved via partitioned auxiliary data design. A more practical mechanism is devised to efficiently handle hash table collisions and reduce both computational and storage overheads. Tests of the computational performance of the algorithms and their response to various attacks showed that the proposed scheme is feasible and robust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proposed technique to embed an image watermark in a host image depends on the discrete cosine transform and the Geffe algorithm in this search. The proposed algorithm uses the Geffe algorithm for encryption of the watermark. Discrete cosine transform (DCT) coefficients are then computed by dividing the host image into non-overlapped 8x8 blocks. The performance evaluation of the suggested technique was conducted using the peak signal-to-noise ratio for watermark 64x64 and 512x512 host images: Lena, Cameraman, and Pepper images give similar results. This technique does not require a host image in the watermark extraction process, then also watermark is extracted completely and better than its counterparts available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the problems in the digital world is the secure transmission of information through insecure communication channels which has been selected as the main concept discussed in this research. This article, by thoroughly analyzing the types of attacks in video watermarking, learns the basics used in the proposed method and offers a solution to deal with the most important categories. Therefore, it presents a secure solution against collusion attacks by introducing a three-dimensional discrete cosine transform algorithm. According to the evaluations, it can be claimed that the proposed solution is resistant to collusion attacks, which is the most important attack in the field of digital watermarking. Another strength of the proposed algorithm compared to other methods is its higher capacity in watermarking. The proposed algorithm, using its special blocking method, has the ability to cover all types of video, both dynamic and static. Various tests have been applied to the selected dataset to analyze the security and the performance of the proposed algorithm. The results show that if the proposed algorithm is used in watermarking, in addition to high accuracy, it can have an acceptable resistance to attacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, watermarking techniques have been under deliberation for their wide variety of applications in various fields. An organization transmits its data through digital communication channels, where the probability of attack is more. To protect the data transmitted through the channel, a novel fuzzy-based digital video watermarking scheme based on Cellular Automata Transform and Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) for copyright protection is proposed. The proposed scheme adopts a mixture of both cellular automata and SVD, which provides copyright protection with high robustness and imperceptibility for multiple transform planes with high processing speed and data redundancy. Moreover, the confidentiality of the proposed scheme is improved with the help of SVD. The watermarked video is experimented with to prove the strength by extracting the watermark image after applying geometric transformation, noise addition, enhancement, and compression attacks. The quantitative performance analysis, which shows improved robustness and imperceptibility of the proposed method compared to the existing methods, is performed by calculating the peak signal-to-noise ratio, structural similarity index, bit error rate, and normalized cross-correlation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Steganography is the art of hiding confidential information. The main purpose of steganography is to hide a message and to make it invisible for an attacker even in the case of receiving an object where the message was hidden. Messages can be, for example, hidden in audio or video signals. Steganography methods can be divided into spatial and frequency. The first group of methods directly changes the components of the original image (pixels), therefore, they visually reduce the quality of the image. One of the most well-known and widespread methods is a discrete cosine transform (DCT). As an alternative to DCT, discrete wavelet transform (DWT) is increasingly being used. Wavelet transform is a relatively new concept. There is a trend towards using wavelets in signal processing and analysis instead of or in addition to discrete cosine transform (DCT). One of the applications of steganography in an image is the use of a watermark. The purpose of a digital watermark is to hide the watermark (a kind of identification data) inside the image so that it is not perceptible to the human eye, but also so that it is stable enough to withstand various kinds of transformations. This paper is focusing on successfully hiding information in an image with the help of a wavelet transform without a visible change to the source file. The proposed algorithm includes a single-level 2D wavelet transform based on various types of transformations such as Haara, Daubeshi and Coiflet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a robust and secure watermarking method for a color image in YCbCr color space. In this study, watermarking is performed using Lifting Wavelet Transform (LWT). Here, edge entropy and information entropy is used to find the block to embed watermark. In this work alpha blending scheme is used for embedding and extraction of watermarks in the LWT domain. The use of LWT makes the proposed scheme faster and more efficient. The Arnold Cat Map (ACM) is used to enhance watermark security. Numerous tests are presented to illustrate the feasibility of the proposed scheme. The experimental results obtained are compared to state-of-the-art schemes, which demonstrate the superiority of the proposed scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Counterfeit integrated circuits (ICs) have become a significant security concern in the semiconductor industry as a result of the increasingly complex and distributed nature of the supply chain. These counterfeit chips may result in performance degradation, profit reduction, and reputation risk for the manufacturer. Therefore, developing effective countermeasures against such malpractices is becoming severely crucial. Physical unclonable function (PUF)-based authentication methods have the potential to mitigate these challenges. However, PUF-based solutions are restrained by several factors, such as additional design efforts and significant area/power overhead, struggle to maintain and update challenge–response pairs (CRPs) database, and the vulnerability to machine learning (ML) attacks. In this article, we address these challenges by developing a novel database-free and enrolment-free hardware authentication approaches, i.e., a digital watermark metric for ICs. To enable efficient database-free hardware integrity verification without enrolment, first, we transform the intrinsic variations in circuit parameters, e.g., boundary scan chain (BSC) path delays in the joint test action group (JTAG) chain into robust digital signatures. Then, we perform statistical analysis on a small pilot unit of authentic chips to create a robust watermark for a complete batch of chips, which jointly captures the characteristics of the physical layout, the manufacturing process, and the foundry. The increasing complexity in the current state-of-the-art designs makes it extremely hard for an adversary to perfectly clone such statistical characterization of circuit parameters using counterfeit or compromised hardware. Besides, the proposed approach requires no additional design or hardware overhead in IC design since it utilizes an embedded structure, which inherently exists within the chips. It also obviates the design house from characterizing each manufactured chip instance, reducing overall testing cost. A path-delay measurement method at a high resolution based on clock phase sweep is introduced to measure the delay values effectively. The proposed intrinsic identifier-based authentication approach is validated by performing emulation on FPGAs and also by conducting physical measurements on custom-made printed circuit boards (PCBs). The reliability of the generated watermarks is evaluated with environmental temperature fluctuations and the aging effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article demonstrates a novel technique for watermarking commercial off-the-shelf NAND flash memory chips. The technique uses repeated program-erase stressing to selectively control the physical properties of the flash cells and hence imprint watermark information into the flash media in an irreversible manner. It is accompanied by a watermark reading method that uses program disturb effects to extract the physical properties of flash memory cells containing watermark. The experimental evaluation, using several commercial flash memory chips, shows that the proposed technique offers robust watermarks that cannot be easily altered using fault injection attacks such as localized heating. We demonstrate a low bit error rate (<1%) in the retrieved watermark data and moderately high-speed watermark imprinting (≈ 1 kb/s) and watermark retrieval (≈ 32 kb/s). The proposed technique does not require any hardware modifications, making it a cost-effective anticounterfeit solution for a wide range of NAND-flash-based storage products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cybersecurity is of vital importance to industrial control systems (ICSs), such as ship automation, manufacturing, building, and energy automation systems. Many control applications require hard real-time channels, where the delay and jitter are in the levels of milliseconds or less. To the best of our knowledge, no encryption algorithm is fast enough for hard real-time channels of existing industrial fieldbuses and, therefore, made mission-critical applications vulnerable to cyberattacks, e.g., delay and data injection attacks. In this article, we propose a novel recursive watermark (RWM) algorithm for hard real-time control system data integrity validation. Using a watermark key, a transmitter applies watermark noise to hard real-time signals and sends through the unencrypted hard real-time channel. The same key is transferred to the receiver by the encrypted nonreal-time channel. With the same key, the receiver can detect if the data have been modified by the attackers and take action to prevent catastrophic damages. We provide analysis and methods to design proper watermark keys to ensure reliable attack detection. We use a ship propulsion control system for the simulation-based case study, where our algorithm smoothly shuts down the system after attacks. We also evaluated the algorithm speed on a Siemens S7-1500 programmable logic controller (PLC). This hardware experiment demonstrated that the RWM algorithm takes about $2.8~\mu \text{s}$ to add or validate the watermark noise on one sample data point. As a comparison, common cryptic hashing algorithms can hardly process a small data set under 100 ms. The proposed RWM is about 32 to 1375 times faster than the standard approaches. Note to Practitioners—It is widely believed that the emerging Internet-of-Things (IoT) technologies will seamlessly connect countless smart devices, profoundly change the industry. Traditionally, field devices within the feedback control loops are isolated from the Internet by secure gateways. In the future, field devices will connect to the Internet in a more direct manner. To the best of our knowledge, no encryption algorithm is fast enough for hard real-time channels of existing industrial fieldbuses and, therefore, made mission-critical applications vulnerable to cyberattacks. We propose a novel recursive watermark (RWM) algorithm for hard real-time control system data integrity validation. This article serves industry practitioners in three ways. First, it is a timely caution to industrial IoT (IIoT) pilot users on the security challenges in real-time channels. Once a compromised edge device is connected to a field device, attackers have unlimited means to jeopardize valuable assets. In this article, we gave an example where attackers may damage shipboard assets by introducing millisecond-level delays. Second, since hard real-time encryption is not available, we propose a detour solution. With the proposed algorithm, even attackers may read the content in the real-time channel, and they cannot change it without being detected. We implemented the real-time RWM algorithms in structured control language (SCL) and tested on a Siemens S7-1500 programmable logic controller (PLC). Third, we provide theoretical analysis as design guidelines for practitioners to set up or customize the RWM algorithm per their specific applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The exponential growth of the information technology has created a pathetic panorama in the field of Health Information System (HIS) that draws the attention of the researchers. Watermarking is a trending topic that provides security to the encapsulated secret code in the medical image and hence, ensures security to the medical images and contributes towards efficient information extraction. The images arelikely to be attacked by intruders, which may be intentional or accidental attack of noises. Therefore, the verification of the image and its related data is necessary.Keeping the security and distortion free watermarking as an objective, this paper proposes a robust watermarking approach that depends upon weight of the pixels. The image makes use of DWT to extract the high and the low frequency bands to select the effective pixels for watermarking. The dragonfly optimization determines the effective pixel that follows the objective function based on ENeGW (Edge level, Neighbourhood strength, Gradient energy, and Wavelet energy) of the pixel. Experimentation is rendered on medical retinal image using patient data as a watermark, and the comparative study is made on the suggested watermarking procedure with the existing methods, such as random selection, PSO, and genetic algorithm. The comparative performance analysis is done and its outcome shows the supremacy of the suggested methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to devise a zero-watermarking algorithm, the main challenge of which is the selection and construction of resilient features of three-dimensional(3D) models while improving the resilience of the zero-watermarking algorithm to common attacks. A novel zero-watermarking scheme for 3D mesh models based on multi-features is proposed in this paper. Using the Ordered Statistics Vertex Extraction and Tracing Algorithm, the stable vertices of a 3D model are determined. Then, the skewness measure of the shape diameter function values and vertex norms of the stable vertices are determined. Combined with the distribution feature of the number of stable vertices, a resilient watermark is applied. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme is not affected by a similarity transformation (such as translation, rotation, or uniform scaling) or vertex reordering. The scheme is also sufficiently resilient to noise, simplification, smoothing, and subdivision attacks. In addition, the scheme can resist cropping to a certain extent. The scheme proposed in this paper is suitable for applications that require 3D models with a higher accuracy and that cannot be embedded with a watermark that would modify the data of those models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel approach of PDF-based text steganography is presented. A covert communication is achieved by embedding secret information at between-characters positions of words within cover PDF text. A stegoencoding technique is being designed to improve the embedding capacity along with sufficiently reduced overheads of stego-cover PDF file. The proposed method constructs multilevel embedding capacities which can be used according to requirements from higher embedding capacity to typical embedding capacity. Encoding and decoding of secret text is being obtained by implementing quadratic probing of hashing technique that builds up a direct encoding table which provides better performance in term of time complexity. Exploratory outcome exhibits that the proposed technique gives productive algorithms in term upgraded security and high payload of concealed data. Experiential verification and examination of the proposed technique with certain prominent text steganographic techniques demonstrate that proposed technique performs better than current methodologies and free of requirements like shading scheme, languages, wordlist, compression and so forth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates two different blind watermarking systems in the frequency domain with the development of a Pseudo Random Number Generator (PRNG), based on a fractional-order chaotic system, for watermark encryption. The methodology is based on converting the cover image to the YCbCr color domain and applying two different techniques of frequency transforms, Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) and Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT), to the Y channel. Then, the encrypted watermark is embedded in the middle-frequency band and HH band coefficients for the DCT and DWT, respectively. For more security and long encryption key size, the fractional-order Lorenz system is used to double the encryption key size and make it secure against brute-force attacks. The proposed algorithms successfully detect the hidden watermark by using the statistical properties of the embedding media, where the PRNG is examined using statistical tests and the watermarking systems are evaluated using standard imperceptibility and robustness measures. Common attacks such as noise-adding attacks, image enhancement attacks and geometric transformation attacks are discussed. Results of the PRNG demonstrate sensitivity to the system parameters, and results of the watermarking systems show good imperceptibility while keeping the robustness measures in a good range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Secure data transmission is critical in public video surveillance applications such as tracking missing persons in large crowd gatherings. It may help the security personnel to monitor & record the live feeds from multiple cameras. However, this live streaming could be falsified. Various cryptographic techniques have been proposed to ensure the integrity of transmitted images, but continuous attacks still pose serious challenges to ensuring the integrity and authenticity of transmitted images. This work proposes a new chaotic-based watermarking technique to ensure the integrity of the transmitted video frames, and since the frames come from multiple cameras, the scheme should be as simple as possible and as fast as possible, the simplicity manifests in designing a fragile watermarking scheme therefore, the watermark is to be embedded in the spatial domain by direct manipulation of the values of the cover's pixels. To ensure the security of the proposed scheme, chaotic maps have been deployed to reach an acceptable level of security with minimum computational overhead. The proposed scheme is novel in design in terms of the chaotic maps used and it is tested in challenging large gathering scenario. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method successfully locates any falsification in the transmitted images, and the performance of the scheme evaluates different types of attacks. Our testing results in good rate tamper of detection with T P R = 99. 2005 , T N R = 99. 0777 and with a good quality of imperceptibility for the watermarked image with P S N R = 43. 82 dB , S S I M = 00. 9955. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]