Lossless Reversible Data Hiding in Encrypted Image for Multiple Data Hiders Based on Pixel Value Order and Secret...

Area of Science:

• Cryptography and Information Security
• Digital Image Processing
• Data Hiding Technologies

Background:

• Conventional reversible data hiding in encrypted images (RDH-EI) typically supports only one data hider, limiting applications like copyright protection.
• There is a critical need for RDH-EI schemes that can accommodate multiple data embedders to address complex security requirements.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel RDH-EI scheme that supports multiple data hiders, enhancing applicability for copyright protection.
• To introduce a scheme satisfying the (k,n) threshold property for flexible data recovery and image decryption.

Main Methods:

• The proposed scheme, PVO, Chaotic System, Secret Sharing-based Reversible Data Hiding in Encrypted Image (PCSRDH-EI), integrates Pixel Value Order (PVO) technology with a secret image sharing (SIS) scheme.
• It utilizes a chaotic system for stream encryption and the Chinese Remainder Theorem (CRT) for secure secret sharing, partitioning images into N shadow images.

Main Results:

• The PCSRDH-EI scheme enables separate data extraction and image decryption.
• Empirical tests demonstrate a maximum embedding rate of 5.706 bits per pixel (bpp).
• The scheme exhibits superior encryption effects and outperforms state-of-the-art methods.

Conclusions:

• The developed PCSRDH-EI scheme effectively addresses the limitations of conventional RDH-EI by supporting multiple data hiders.
• The scheme offers robust security, high embedding capacity, and meets the (k,n) threshold requirement, making it suitable for advanced copyright protection.