Robust authentication for paper-based text documents based on text watermarking technology.

Area of Science:

• Computer Science
• Information Security
• Digital Forensics

Background:

• Paper documents are susceptible to tampering and lack reliable integrity verification methods.
• Existing authentication methods struggle with the challenges posed by print-and-scan processes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a robust content authentication method for printed documents resistant to print-and-scan attacks.
• To enable secure integrity verification and tamper localization for paper-based text documents.

Main Methods:

• Generation of an authentication watermark signal sequence using the Logistic chaotic map model, linked to document content.
• Embedding the watermark signal into printed documents via a robust text watermarking scheme.
• Extraction of watermark information from scanned document images and comparison with real-time calculated watermarks derived from OCR-processed text.

Main Results:

• The proposed method successfully achieves robust content integrity authentication for printed text documents.
• Accurate localization of document tampering positions is demonstrated.
• The watermarking scheme exhibits a large information capacity and maintains good visual quality of the document.

Conclusions:

• The developed text watermarking scheme provides an effective solution for authenticating the integrity of paper documents.
• The method is resilient to print-and-scan operations, offering reliable security for physical documents.