Robust and secure watermarking scheme based on singular values replacement

Abstract

Digital watermarking is used to carry information by embedding information into the cover data in a perceptually visible or non visible manner. In today's sea of digital information, there are many problems associated like identity of the owner of content or protecting their rights. In case of any dispute, one can prove their identity by decoding the watermark. Two most important prerequisites for an efficient watermarking scheme are robustness and invisibility. After embedding the watermark, perceptual quality of the digital content should not be degraded and watermark must be recoverable from the watermarked image even if it is altered or processed by one or more image processing attacks such as compression, filtering, geometric distortions, resizing etc. In my research work, I have proposed a blind watermarking scheme based on the discrete wavelet transformation (DWT) and singular value decomposition (SVD). In this scheme, Singular Values (SV's) were embedded in the HH band of the watermark for perceptual transparency and robustness. Although the scheme proves to be robust however it is insecure. An authentication mechanism is proposed at the decoder for security enhancement. It is implemented by using a signature based authentication mechanism. Finally the resulting water- marking scheme is secure and robust.