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A fast selective encryption scheme for H.264/AVC video with syntax-preserving and zero bit rate expansion

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Abstract

H.264/AVC is the most widely used video-coding standard today, and designing selective encryption (SE) algorithms for H.264/AVC has drawn extensive attention. Unfortunately, existing SE schemes cannot provide a good balance between security, bit rate, and encryption efficiency. In this paper, we propose a fast H.264/AVC SE scheme with syntax-preserving and zero bit rate expansion. To produce heavy visual distortion, both prediction and residual syntax elements, including intra-prediction mode, motion vector difference (MVD), TrailingOnes, and Level, are selected for encryption. Based on the hash function SHA-224, their values are encrypted using a plaintext-dependent keystream sequence generated by the hyperchaotic Lü system. To keep format compatibility and the same bit rate, different encryption strategies are designed according to the encoding characteristics of each syntax element. Besides, reversible data steganography is employed to embed the hash value into the encrypted MVD by bit. Therefore, the hash value can be transmitted or stored together with the encrypted video, increasing the practical applicability of the algorithm. Furthermore, if the wrong hash value is extracted, decryption will fail, thus further enhancing the encryption strength of our scheme. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm has a key space of size \(2^{212}\), and the average PSNR, SSIM, and time expansion are lower than 13 dB, 0.22, and 0.06%, respectively. Thus, our scheme provides both a high level of security and high efficiency.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 62171114 and 62032013) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. N2324004-12).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Computer Science and Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110819, China

    Qingxin Sheng, Chong Fu & Zhaonan Lin

  2. Engineering Research Center of Security Technology of Complex Network System, Ministry of Education, Shenyang, China

    Chong Fu

  3. State Grid Liaoning Ultra High Voltage Company, Shenyang, 110003, China

    Jiayu Wen

  4. School of Software, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116621, China

    Junxin Chen

  5. School of Information and Communication Engineering, Beijing Information Science and Technology University, Beijing, 100101, China

    Lin Cao

  6. School of Computer Science, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Chiu-Wing Sham

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  1. Qingxin Sheng
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  2. Chong Fu
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  4. Jiayu Wen
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  5. Junxin Chen
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  7. Chiu-Wing Sham
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Contributions

QS: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Writing—Original Draft, Writing—Review & Editing. CF: Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Writing—Review & Editing. ZL: Writing—Review & Editing. JW: Writing—Review & Editing. JC: Writing—Review & Editing. LC: Writing—Review & Editing. C-WS: Writing—Review & Editing.

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Correspondence to Chong Fu.

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Sheng, Q., Fu, C., Lin, Z. et al. A fast selective encryption scheme for H.264/AVC video with syntax-preserving and zero bit rate expansion. SIViP 18, 975–989 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11760-023-02767-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11760-023-02767-w

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