An image authentication method by applying Hamming code on rearranged bits

In 2007, Chan and Chang proposed an image authentication method using the Hamming code technique. The parity check bits were produced from pixels by using the Hamming code technique, and the produced bits were embedded in other pixels. When recovering, the method had to predict the value of the most-significant bit of each tampered pixel first. Then, the tampered pixel was able to be recovered by referring to the predicted bit and its parity check bits. However, using the most-significant bit is unsuitable because of the risk of making an incorrect prediction. In this paper, the parity check bits are produced from pixels whose bits have been rearranged. This way, the value of the most-significant bit of each tampered pixel can be determined according to its parity check bits. The recovery procedure is also modified to accommodate the rearranging procedure. The experimental results show that the proposed method has a better ability to recover the tampered areas, compared with Chan and Chang’s method. Moreover, the quality of the authenticated images of the proposed method is also higher than that of Chan and Chang’s method.

► We proposed an image authentication method by using the Hamming code technique.
► When recovering, the most-significant bit of the tampered pixels can be determined.
► Some cases that may cause incorrect predictions for pixels can be known in advance.
► The new recovering procedure can recover the tampered areas successfully.