Reversible Data Hiding in Color Encrypted Images Based on Color Channels Correlation and Entropy Coding

Gao Guangyong; Ji Chi; Xia Zhihua

doi:10.7544/issn1000-1239.202330880

Journal of Computer Research and Development > 2025 > Corrected proof > DOI: 10.7544/issn1000-1239.202330880 CSTR: 32373.14.issn1000-1239.202330880

Gao Guangyong, Ji Chi, Xia Zhihua. Reversible Data Hiding in Color Encrypted Images Based on Color Channels Correlation and Entropy Coding[J]. Journal of Computer Research and Development. DOI: 10.7544/issn1000-1239.202330880

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Reversible Data Hiding in Color Encrypted Images Based on Color Channels Correlation and Entropy Coding

Gao Guangyong^{1, 2,},
Ji Chi^{1, 2},
Xia Zhihua^3, ,

1.
Engineering Research Center of Digital Forensics (Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology), Ministry of Education, Nanjing 210044
2.
School of Computer Science, School of Cyber Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing 210044
3.
College of Cyber Security, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632

Funds: This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2020YFB1005600) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (61662039, 62122032, U1936118).

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Author Bio:
Gao Guangyong: born in 1973. PhD, professor，PhD supervisor. Senior member of CCF. His main research interests include reversible data hiding, computer networks security, multimedia information security, and digital image processing

Ji Chi: born in 2002. Undergraduate. His main research interests include reversible data hiding and multimedia information security

Xia Zhihua: born in 1983. PhD, professor, PhD supervisor. Winner of the National Science Fund for Excellent Young Scholars. His main research interests include digital forensic and encrypted image processing
Received Date: October 30, 2023
Revised Date: June 16, 2024
Accepted Date: July 10, 2024
Available Online: July 15, 2024

Graphical Abstract

Abstract

Abstract

With the continuous development of cloud computing technology, the reversible data hiding in encrypted images (RDHEI) has received more and more attention. But most of the reversible data hiding in encrypted images are based on grey-scale, which have great limitations in application scenario compared with color images. Moreover, since the current reversible data hiding methods in the encrypted domain mainly focus on grey-scale images, and there are few optimizations for the characteristics of color images, it is hard to obtain better performance by applying these algorithms, so it is of high value to further investigate the reversible data hiding algorithm in color encrypted images. In this paper, we propose a high-performance RDHEI of color images algorithm for the first time based on color channels correlation and entropy encoding (RDHEI-CE) for cloud computing. First, the RGB channels of the color image are separated and the prediction errors are derived separately. Next, the embedding space is generated by adaptive entropy encoding and prediction errors histogram. The correlation between color channels is then used to further expand the embedding space and embed secret message on the encrypted image. Finally, the marked encrypted image must be scrambled in order to resist a ciphertext-only attack. Compared with most state-of-the-art RDHEI methods, experimental results show that the RDHEI-CE method provides a greater embedding rate and better security and broadens the application scene of reversible data hiding in the cloud.
- reversible data hiding,
- encrypted images,
- color images,
- color channels correlation,
- entropy encoding

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References (45)

References

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