Multiple security anti-counterfeit applications to QR code payment based on visual secret sharing and QR code

In this paper, we propose a novel mechanism for QR code security anti-counterfeit based on the fusion of visual secret sharing (VSS) and QR code (called VSSQR scheme), which can greatly improve the security of QR code payment. Due to different application scenarios, the background security anti-counterfeit application and the prospects security anti-counterfeit application are shown for QR code payment authentication. The basic idea of the two applications can be characterized as follows. First, two QR code shares that contain the information of the merchant can be generated based on VSSQR scheme with an original secret image. Second, the secret image can be revealed by stacking two QR code shares to obtain the original information. Finally, whether the stacking result is the same as the original secret image or not can determine the authenticity of QR code share used for payment. The analyses show the security of our method. The applications are conducted to show the effectiveness and practicability.