Hidden images in halftone pictures

A novel steganography method for binary and color halftone images

Digital steganography is the science of establishing hidden communication on electronics; the aim is to transmit a secret message to a particular recipient using unsuspicious carriers such as digital images, documents, and audio files with the help of specific hiding methods. This article proposes a novel steganography method that can hide plaintext payloads on digital halftone images. The proposed method distributes the secret message over multiple output copies and scatters parts of the message randomly within each output copy for increased security. A payload extraction algorithm, where plain carrier is not required, is implemented and presented as well. Results gained from conducted objective and subjective tests prove that the proposed steganography method is secure and can hide large payloads.

Encrypted imaging based on algebraic implementation of double random phase encoding

The security of important information captured by sensors and cameras is currently a growing concern as information theft via techniques such as side-channel attacks become increasingly more prevalent. Double random phase encoding (DRPE) is an optical encryption method based on optical Fourier transform that is currently being used to implement secure coherent optical systems. In this paper, we propose a new DRPE implementation for incoherent optical systems based on integral photography that can be applied to "encrypted imaging (EI)" to optically encrypt an image before it is captured by an image sensor. Because the proposed incoherent DRPE is constituted from conventional DRPE by rewriting the optical encryption via discretization and Euler's formula, its security level is the same as that of conventional DRPE. The results of an experiment in which we encrypted a plaintext image optically and then decrypted it numerically demonstrate that our proposed incoherent optical security system is feasible.

Lensless optical data hiding system based on phase encoding algorithm in the Fresnel domain

A novel and efficient algorithm based on a modified Gerchberg-Saxton algorithm (MGSA) in the Fresnel domain is presented, together with mathematical derivation, and two pure phase-only masks (POMs) are generated. The algorithm's application to data hiding is demonstrated by a simulation procedure, in which a hidden image/logo is encoded into phase forms. A hidden image/logo can be extracted by the proposed high-performance lensless optical data-hiding system. The reconstructed image shows good quality and the errors are close to zero. In addition, the robustness of our data-hiding technique is illustrated by simulation results. The position coordinates of the POMs as well as the wavelength are used as secure keys that can ensure sufficient information security and robustness. The main advantages of this proposed watermarking system are that it uses fewer iterative processes to produce the masks, and the image-hiding scheme is straightforward.

Gray tone image watermarking with complementary computer generated holography

We present herein an original approach for the watermarking of holograms in gray tone images for use in microscopic halftone image archiving. Our concept is based on the principle of complementary holography presented in a previous contribution. The efficiency of the concept is evaluated theoretically and experimentally. We demonstrate the interest of elliptical diffraction patterns as an alternative to the usual rectangular diffraction patterns and confirm the subsidiary role of the hologram amplitude in the hologram recovery process.

Evaluations of phase-only double random phase encoding based on key-space analysis

Although initial research shows that double-random phase encoding (DRPE) is vulnerable to known-plaintext attacks that use phase retrieval algorithms, subsequent research has shown that phase-only DRPE, in which the Fourier amplitude component of an image encrypted with classical DRPE remains constant, is resistant to attacks that apply phase retrieval algorithms. Herein, we numerically analyze the key-space of DRPE and investigate the distribution property of decryption keys for classical and phase-only DRPE. We determine the difference in the distribution property of successful decryption keys for these DRPE techniques from the numerical analysis results and then discuss the security offered by them.

Efficient text encryption and hiding with double-random phase-encoding

In this paper, a double-random phase-encoding technique-based text encryption and hiding method is proposed. First, the secret text is transformed into a 2-dimensional array and the higher bits of the elements in the transformed array are used to store the bit stream of the secret text, while the lower bits are filled with specific values. Then, the transformed array is encoded with double-random phase-encoding technique. Finally, the encoded array is superimposed on an expanded host image to obtain the image embedded with hidden data. The performance of the proposed technique, including the hiding capacity, the recovery accuracy of the secret text, and the quality of the image embedded with hidden data, is tested via analytical modeling and test data stream. Experimental results show that the secret text can be recovered either accurately or almost accurately, while maintaining the quality of the host image embedded with hidden data by properly selecting the method of transforming the secret text into an array and the superimposition coefficient. By using optical information processing techniques, the proposed method has been found to significantly improve the security of text information transmission, while ensuring hiding capacity at a prescribed level.

Lensless optical data embedding system using concealogram and cascaded digital Fresnel hologram

A robust lensless optical data embedding system using both the computer-generated concealogram and the digital Fresnel hologram (DFH) is proposed. The concealogram and the DFH are cascaded as the input and filter planes, respectively. When the concealogram is illuminated by a plane wave, the hidden data can be extracted at the output plane without using any lenses. The longitudinal positions of the filter and the output planes, as well as the wavelength, can be used as the secret keys to enhance system security. Furthermore, the robustness of the proposed system against noise and distortion is also demonstrated.

Information hiding based on double random-phase encoding and public-key cryptography

A novel information hiding method based on double random-phase encoding (DRPE) and Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) public-key cryptosystem is proposed. In the proposed technique, the inherent diffusion property of DRPE is cleverly utilized to make up the diffusion insufficiency of RSA public-key cryptography, while the RSA cryptosystem is utilized for simultaneous transmission of the cipher text and the two phase-masks, which is not possible under the DRPE technique. This technique combines the complementary advantages of the DPRE and RSA encryption techniques and brings security and convenience for efficient information transmission. Extensive numerical simulation results are presented to verify the performance of the proposed technique.

Cryptanalysis of optical security systems with significant output images

The security of the encryption and verification techniques with significant output images is examined by a known-plaintext attack. We introduce an iterative phase-retrieval algorithm based on multiple intensity measurements to heuristically estimate the phase key in the Fourier domain by several plaintext-cyphertext pairs. We obtain correlation output images with very low error by correlating the estimated key with corresponding random phase masks. Our studies show that the convergence behavior of this algorithm sensitively depends on the starting point. We also demonstrate that this algorithm can be used to attack the double random phase encoding technique.

Information security system by iterative multiple-phase retrieval and pixel random permutation

A novel information security system based on multiple-phase retrieval by an iterative Fresnel-transform algorithm and pixel random permutation (PRP) technique is proposed. In this method a series of phase masks cascaded in free space are employed and the phase distributions of all the masks are adjusted simultaneously in each iteration. It can achieve faster convergence and better quality of the recovered image compared with double-phase encoding and a similar approach in the spatial-frequency domain with the same number of phase masks and can provide a higher degree of freedom in key space with more geometric parameters as supplementary keys. Furthermore, the security level of this method is greatly improved by the introduction of the PRP technique. The feasibility of this method and its robustness against occlusion and additional noise attacks are verified by computer simulations. The performance of this technique for different numbers of phase masks and quantized phase levels is investigated systematically with the correlation coefficient and mean square error as convergence criterions.

Watermarks encrypted in a concealogram and deciphered by a modified joint-transform correlator

We describe an electro-optical method of deciphering a watermark from a recently invented encoded image termed a concealogram. The watermark is revealed as a result of spatial correlation between two concealograms, one containing the watermark and the other containing the deciphering key. The two are placed side by side on the input plane of a modified joint-transform correlator. When the input plane is illuminated by a plane wave, the watermark image is reconstructed on part of the correlator's output plane. The key function deciphers the concealed watermark from the visible picture only when the two specific concealograms are matched. To illustrate the system's performance, both simulation and experimental results are presented.

Watermarking of three-dimensional objects by digital holography

We present an optical method for information watermarking of three-dimensional (3D) objects by digital holography. A hidden image is embedded by double phase encoding in a phase-shift digital hologram of the 3D object. We decode the watermarked hologram to reconstruct the hidden image and the 3D object. We use either the entire hologram or a part of it to decode the hidden image. Experiments are presented to illustrate the ability to recover both the 3D object and the decoded hidden image. Digital holograms of the 3D object are obtained by optical experiments. The watermarking process, 3D object reconstruction, and hidden image recovery are performed digitally. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of 3D object watermarking by use of a phase encoding technique and digital holography.

Information hiding technique with double phase encoding

We propose a technique for information hiding using double phase encoding. The proposed method uses a weighted double phase-encoded hidden image added to a host image referred to as the transmitted image. We develop an analytical presentation for the system performance using the statistical properties of double phase encoding. The peak signal-to-noise-ratio metric is used as a measure for the degradation in the quality of the host image and the recovered hidden image. We test, analytically, the distortion of the hidden image that is due to the host image and the effect of occlusion of the pixels of the transmitted image (that is, the host image containing the hidden image). Moreover, we discuss the effect of using only the real part of the transmitted image to recover the hidden image. Computer simulations are presented to test the system performance against these types of distortion. The simulations illustrate the system ability to recover the hidden image under distortions and the robustness of the hidden image against removal trials.