Separable Reversible Data hiding in Encrypted Images by n-nary Histogram Modification

Abstract

Abstract. This work proposes a novel scheme of separable reversible data hiding for encrypted image using histogram modification. After the original image is encrypted by the sender, the data-hider embeds the secret message into the encrypted image by a histogram modification and n-nary data hiding scheme. On the receiver side, the secret message can be extracted by the embedding key, and the original image can be totally recovered using both the embedding key and the encryption key. If the embedding key is unavailable for the receiver, the original image can still be approximately recovered using the encryption-key. This separable method does not require the sender to reserve embedding room by himself, and can perfectly recover the original image. Compared to the existing reversible data hiding methods for encrypted images, the proposed method largely improves the embedding capacity.Keywords: Reversible data hiding. Information hiding. Image recovery IntroductionReversible data hiding (RDH) is a technique that embeds secret data into the cover, like military or medical images, by slightly modifying the data of the cover; and on the receiver side, the original image can be losslessly recovered [1,2]. Many RDH methods have been proposed for digital images, such as the general RDH framework by redundancy compression [3], the difference expansion (DE) method [4], the histogram shifting (HS) method [5], and so on [6][7][8]. Traditionally, these methods are useful for embedding data into the images that are open to the data-hider. However, in some scenarios, the owner of the cover is unwilling to show the information of the original image to the data-hider. For example, to protect the patient's privacy, content of the medical image might be unavailable for the technician who embeds the information into the medical image. These applica-1 Z. Qian ()

Secure most significant bit plane compression based reversible data hiding in encrypted image technique using Huffman Ciphersystem

“…This limitation has led to the emergence of a new subfield of RDH called RDH in encrypted images (RDHEIs). 3 There are many existing works of literature for RDHEI using pseudo-random number generators, [4][5][6] homomorphic encryption, [7][8][9][10] advanced encryption standard, 3 and stream cipher. [11][12][13] RDHEI consists of two procedures: embedding and extraction of secret data cum recovery of the cover image.…”

“…This limitation has led to the emergence of a new subfield of RDH called RDH in encrypted images (RDHEIs) 3 . There are many existing works of literature for RDHEI using pseudo-random number generators, 4 – 6 homomorphic encryption, 7 – 10 advanced encryption standard, 3 and stream cipher 11 – 13 …”

Reversible Data Hiding in Encrypted Images Based on Image Interpolation

“…Zhang, Qian, Feng & Ren (2014) losslessly compress partition of the encrypted image using Low Density Parity Check Code (LDPC) and obtain the extra room for embedding the data; on the receiver side, with the help of compressed data and the uncompressed data, the image content can be perfectly recovered. Qian, Han & Zhang (2013) utilize the property of the random histogram in encrypted image, and modulate the histogram for embedding room. All these methods in (Zhang, 2011;Hong et al, 2012;Zhang, 2012) vacate room before encryption and recover the image through the correlation of pixels.…”