Digital images authentication scheme based on bimodal biometric watermarking in an independent domain

•We propose a new biometric-based bimodal watermarking scheme.•Two independent watermarks based on fingerprint and iris biometrics are used.•Our algorithm explores an independent domain of the cover image.•Authentication procedure is based on fusion of two extracted biometric watermarks.

With the growing accessibility and usability of internet there is a growing concern over content protection of digital images. Recently, to eliminate the traditional use of passwords and to ensure that the access to the image is restricted only to legitimate users, security solutions are increasingly combined with biometrics. Consequently, biometric-based watermarking algorithms, that involve embedding the identity of the owner, are proposed to solve ownership disputes. This paper presents a new scheme for protecting and authenticating invisibly watermarked digital images. It applies Independent Component Analysis to the cover image and enables the insertion of two independent watermarks based on fingerprint and iris biometrics. In this approach biometric techniques are used for watermarks generation and for owners authentication. The main advantage of proposed algorithm is construction of ICA based watermarking domain to enable insertion of two independent watermarks, that improve authentication accuracy and makes scheme more robust.