A color image authentication method using partitioned palette and morphological operations

Image authentication is applied to protect the integrity of the digital image. Conventional image authentication mechanisms, however, are unfit for the palette-based color images. Palette-based color images such as GIF images are commonly used for media communications. This article proposes a palette-based color image authentication mechanism. This novel scheme can guarantee the essentials of general authentication schemes to protect palette-based color images. Morphological operations are adopted to draw out the tampered area precisely. According to the experimental results, the images embedded with the authentication data still can preserve high image quality; specifically, the new scheme is highly sensitive to altered areas.