Capacity-security analysis of data hiding technologies

In this paper we consider the problem of joint capacity-security analysis of data hiding technologies from the communications point of view. First, we formulate data hiding as an optimal encoding problem for different operational regimes, that include both robust digital watermarking and steganography. This provides the corresponding estimation of the hidden data statistics, as well as of the rates approaching embedding capacity. Secondly, we formulate the problem of blind stochastic hidden data detection based on the developed watermark statistics. Finally, we estimate the error of watermark detection and the variance of the watermark estimation that determine the system security.