Skip to main content

Advertisement

Springer Nature Link
Log in

A robust watermarking scheme for hybrid attacks on heritage images

  • Original Research
  • Published:
Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Heritage incorporates images, customs, rituals, beliefs, cultures, knowledge, arts, crafts, music, and artifacts of a region. Apart from conferring the details about the understanding of previous generations, the heritage multimedia also provides details regarding innovative attitudes, ways of living, and heterogeneity of historical and archaeological approaches of a society. Since the availability of the internet in the present scenario makes an illicit user access the data easily, therefore, it is mandatory to protect the Cultural Heritage (CH) media. This paper offers a secure and resilient Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) based blind watermarking algorithm for copyright security of digital images. We have developed and tested two different approaches of embedding namely Fixed Threshold Reference-based Relative Modulation (FTRRM) and Adaptive Threshold Reference-based Relative Modulation (ATRRM). In either approach, the watermark is embedded in the ‘Y’ component of the YCbCr color model. In FTRRM, the ‘Y’ component of the host image is first divided into 8 × 8 non-overlapping blocks and DCT is applied on each block. The watermark bits are embedded into the transformed coefficients by modulating the relative difference of coefficients depending on the bit to be embedded. A similar embedding strategy is followed in ATRRM, with a change that relative difference is modulated adaptively. Both schemes have been tested on a set of heritage images, besides general test images. We make use of chaotic and Deoxyribo Nucleic acid (DNA) encryption to ensure double-layer security of embedded watermark. The Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) of the proposed scheme in the case of FTRRM is 40.4984 dB and for ATRRM it is 39.9549 dB, the Structural Similarity Index Matrix (SSIM) values are close to unity, in both cases for various test images that guarantee the imperceptibility of the proposed scheme. The robustness of each scheme is revealed by comparing them with the various state-of-the-art techniques separately.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

Explore related subjects

Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.

Data availability

The data cannot be made available as the authors are not permitted to do so as per the institution policy.

References

  • Abraham J, Paul V (2019) An imperceptible spatial domain color image watermarking scheme. J King Saud Univ Comput Inf Sci 31(1):125–133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jksuci.2016.12.004

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cappellini V, Bartolini V, Caldelli R, Rosa AD, Piva A, Barni M, Wada M (2000) Copyright protection of heritage multimedia data through digital watermarking techniques. In: Proceedings of the 11th International workshop on database and expert systems applications. https://doi.org/10.1109/DEXA.2000.875138

  • Chang X, Nie F, Wang S, Yang Y, Zhou X, Zhang C (2016) Compound rank-k projections for bilinear analysis. IEEE Trans Neural Netw Learn Syst 27(7):1502–1513

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Chen K, Yao L, Zhang D, Wang X, Chang X, Nie F (2020) A semisupervised recurrent convolutional attention model for human activity recognition. IEEE Trans Neural Netw Learn Syst 31(5):1747–1756

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Choi Y, Aizawa K (2000) Digital watermarking using inter-block correlation: extension to JPEG coded domain. In: Proceedings international conference on information technology: coding and computing, pp 133–138

  • Fares K, Amine K, Salah E (2020) A robust blind color image watermarking based on Fourier transform domain. Int J Light Electron Optics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijleo.2020.164562

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feng LP, Zheng LB, Cao P (2010) A DWT-DCT based blind watermarking algorithm for copyright protection. In: 2010 3rd international conference on computer science and information technology, pp 455–458

  • Kamili A, Hurrah NN, Parah SA, Bhat GM, Muhammad K (2021) DWFCAT: dual watermarking framework for industrial image authentication and tamper localization. IEEE Trans Indus Inform 17:5108–5117

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kang X, Huang J, Shi YQ, Lin Y (2003) A DWT-DFT composite watermarking scheme robust to both affine transform and JPEG compression. IEEE Trans Circuits Syst Video Technol 13(8):776–786

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ko HJ, Huang CT, Horng G, Wang SJ (2020) Robust and blind image watermarking in DCT domain using inter-block coefficient correlation. Inf Sc 517:128–147

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koa HJ, Huang CT, Hornga G, Wang SJ (2020) Robust and blind image watermarking in DCT domain using inter-block coefficient correlation. Inf Sci 517:128–147

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li Z, Nie F, Chang X, Yang Y, Zhang C, Sebe N (2018) Dynamic affinity graph construction for spectral clustering using multiple features. IEEE Trans Neural Netw Learn Syst 29(12):6323–6332

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Li Z, Yao L, Chang X, Zhan K, Sun J, Zhang H (2019) Zero-shot event detection via event-adaptive concept relevance mining. Pattern Recogn 88:595–603

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin PY, Lee JS, Chang CC (2009) Dual digital watermarking for internet media based on hybrid strategies. IEEE Trans Circuits Syst Video Technol 19:1169–1177

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu XL, Lin CC, Yuan SM (2018) Blind dual watermarking for color images’ authentication and copyright protection. IEEE Trans Circuits Syst Video Technol 28(5):1047–1055

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loan NA, Hurrah NN, Parah SA, Lee JW, Sheikh JA, Bhat GM (2018) Secure and robust digital image watermarking using coefficient differencing and chaotic encryption. IEEE Access 6:19876–19897

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luo M, Chang X, Nie L, Yang Y, Hauptmann AG, Zheng Q (2018) An adaptive semi supervised feature analysis for video semantic recognition. IEEE Trans Cybern 48(2):648–660

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mastico AD, Cappellini V, Caldelli R, Rosa D, Piva A (2007) Virtual restoration and protection of cultural heritage images. In 2007 15th international conference on digital signal processing. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICDSP.2007.4288621

  • Mushtaq S, Mehraj S, Parah SA, Giri KJ, Sheikh JA (2022) Cultural heritage copyright protection: a blind and robust watermarking technique for heritage images. In: 2022 7th international conference for convergence in technology. https://doi.org/10.1109/I2CT54291.2022.9825126

  • Phadikar A, Jana A, Phadikar BS, Maity GK (2016) Reversible watermarking using channel coding and lifting for cultural heritage and medical image. Int J Inf Comput Security 8:34–54

    Google Scholar 

  • Qiu X, Du Z, Sun X (2019) Artificial intelligence-based security authentication: applications in wireless multimedia networks. IEEE Access 7:172004–172011

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rakhmawati L, Wirawan W, Suwadi S, Delpha C, Duhamel P (2021) Blind robust image watermarking based on adaptive embedding strength and distribution of quantified coefficients. Expert Syst Appl. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2021.115906

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roy A, Chakraborty RS (2019) Towards optimal prediction error expansion based reversible image watermarking. IEEE Trans Circuits Syst Video Technol 30(8):2377–2390

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roy S, Pal AK (2017) A blind DCT based color watermarking algorithm for embedding multiple watermarks. AEU Int J Electron Commun 72:149–161

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salerno E (2016) Watermarking information layers in multispectral images of cultural heritage objects. In: 2016 international workshop on computational intelligence for multimedia understanding. https://doi.org/10.1109/IWCIM.2016.7801176

  • Su Q, Niu Y, Zou H, Liu X (2013) A blind dual color images watermarking based on singular value decomposition. Appl Math Comput 219:8455–8466

    MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Wang Y, Pearmain A (2004) Blind image data hiding based on self reference. Pattern Recogn Lett 25:1681–1689

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Won J, Seo SH, Bertino E (2017) Certificateless cryptographic protocols for efficient drone-based smart city applications. IEEE Access 5:3721–3749

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yu E, Ma J, Sun J, Chang X, Zhang H, Hauptmann AG (2022) Deep discrete cross-modal hashing with multiple supervision. Neurocomputing 486:215–224

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yuan Z, Liu D, Zhang X, Su Q (2020) New image blind watermarking method based on two-dimensional discrete cosine transform. Int J Light Electron Optics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijleo.2019.164152

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang H, Li Z, Liu X, Wang C, Wang X (2021) Robust image watermarking algorithm based on QWT and QSVD using 2DChebyshev-Logistic map. J Franklin Inst 359(2):1755–1781

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao Y (2004) Dual domain watermarking for authentication and compression of cultural heritage images. IEEE Trans Image Process 13:430–448

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou R, Chang X, Shi L, Shen YD, Yang Y, Nie F (2020) Person reisentification via multi-feature fusion with adaptive graph learning. IEEE Trans Neural Netw Learn Syst 31(5):1592–1601

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express gratitude to the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, for supporting this work under SHRI, scheme under Grant number: DST/TDT/SHRI-33/2018.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electronics and Instrumentation Technology, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, 190006, India

    Samrah Mehraj, Subreena Mushtaq, Shabir A. Parah & Javaid A. Sheikh

  2. Department of Computer Science, Islamic University of Science and Technology, Pulwama, 192122, India

    Kaiser J. Giri

Authors
  1. Samrah Mehraj
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  2. Subreena Mushtaq
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  3. Shabir A. Parah
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  4. Kaiser J. Giri
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  5. Javaid A. Sheikh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shabir A. Parah.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mehraj, S., Mushtaq, S., Parah, S.A. et al. A robust watermarking scheme for hybrid attacks on heritage images. J Ambient Intell Human Comput 14, 7367–7380 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12652-022-04445-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12652-022-04445-0

Keywords