Watermarking in the Encrypted Domain Subject Watermarking is the practice of embedding information inside some form of host data

(these can be images, audio or video) in such a way that the information is imperceptible (imperceptibility), cannot be removed or altered without making the host data useless (unremovability), can only be read by persons that have permission and is either not affected by operations with the host data (robustness) or gets destroyed by the least manipulation (fragileness). Watermarking has several applications, including: - Copyright information: The owner of the host data can put a copyright notice in the watermark in order to prove that he is the owner. - Traitor Tracing: The owner can put a customer identification in the watermark so if any illegal copies are made, the responsible customer(s) can be identified. - Quality assessment: Fragile watermarks can be used to check whether the host data was tampered with or not, such that authenticity or quality of the received material can be judged. On the other hand, robust watermarks carrying information about the original, can also be employed in this scenario. In the past, several classes of digital watermarking techniques have been introduced in the literature. Some of the most promising techniques in terms of robustness versus imperceptibility are QIM-based watermarking schemes which embed the watermark through quantization of the original sample values. They are so-called informed techniques, meaning that they use information about the cover work (i.e. the host data in which the message will be hidden) to determine the way the watermark is embedded, thereby optimizing the robustness versus imperceptibility behaviour. As cryptography is the science of secure transmission of a secret message over an insecure channel, it includes watermarking, which actually complements encryption. Indeed, once data is decrypted it becomes vulnerable, unless it is also watermarked. The goal of this thesis is to design a system which combines encryption and watermarking. Kind of work The thesis work consists of the following steps: 1) Literature study of watermarking (e.g. QIM-based watermarking) and encryption. 2) Implementation of an encryption algorithm. 3) Using this implementation, construct a system that combines encryption and watermarking.

4) Experimental evaluation of robustness versus imperceptibilty. 5) Writing the thesis. Framework of the Thesis This thesis will allow you to gain experience in the field of digital watermarking and encryption which plays an important role in Multimedia Forensics. Number of Students 1 Expected Student Profile Matlab/C/C++/Java programming experience and/or interest. Interest in multimedia, image processing and security.