A Generalized Tamper Localization Approach for Reversible Watermarking Algorithms

In general reversible watermarking algorithms, the convention is to reject the entire cover image at the receiver end if it fails authentication, since there is no way to detect the exact locations of tampering. This feature may be exploited by an adversary to bring about a form of DoS attack. Here we provide a solution to this problem in form of a tamper localization mechanism for reversible watermarking algorithms, which allows selective rejection of distorted cover image regions in case of authentication failure, thus avoiding rejection of the complete image. Additionally it minimizes the bandwidth requirement of the communication channel.