Multiple block based authentication watermarking for distribution of medical images

To provide an effective authentication method for distribution of medical images, we propose a new fragile watermarking method utilizing segmentation information of medical image contents. For medical image modalities like CT, MRI and PET, tissue structures contain a significant amount of clinical information. Hence, it is important to provide an authenticity check of the segmented blocks. The proposed method is based on cryptographically secure fragile watermarking but eliminates the problem of the block-wise independency of existing methods. The vector quantization (VQ) counterfeiting attack is a known vulnerability due to the block-wise independency of existing methods. In our approach, multiple signatures from two different types of blocks are used to defy such attacks. More secure distribution of medical images can be achieved by embedding the watermark.