Bilevel image watermarking for image authentication surviving JPEG lossy compression

Techniques to establish authenticity and integrity of digital images are essential for secure transactions through distributed and unreliable systems, such as the Internet. Here, we propose two novel semifragile watermarking schemes that are designed to survive JPEG lossy compression for ownership identification and content authentication of digital images. First, we propose to embed bi-level images into the high-frequency block-DCT coefficients of the host image. The watermarked image is authenticated by marking the region of tampering (RoT) with crosses, if any tampering was made. Next, we modify the first scheme such that instead of reflecting the RoTs on the watermarked image, they will be reflected on the bi-level images directly. These schemes provide satisfactory results and can distinguish JPEG lossy compression from malicious content modification.