Homomorphic image watermarking with a singular value decomposition algorithm Hanaa A. Abdallah a , Rania A. Ghazy b , Hany Kasban c , Osama S. Faragallah d , Abdalhameed A. Shaalan a , Mohiy M. Hadhoud e , Moawad I. Dessouky b , Nawal A. El-Fishawy d , Saleh A. Alshebeili f , Fathi E. Abd El-samie b,g,⇑ a Faculty of Engineering, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt b Department of Electronics and Electrical Communications, Faculty of Electronic Engineering, Menoufia University, Menouf 32952, Egypt c Engineering Department, Nuclear Research Center, Atomic Energy Authority, Egypt d Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Faculty of Electronic Engineering, Menoufia University, Menouf 32952, Egypt e Department of Information Technology, Faculty of Computers and Information, Menoufia University, 32511 Shebin Elkom, Egypt f Electrical Engineering Department, KACST-TIC in Radio Frequency and Photonics for the e-Society (RFTONICS), King Saud University, Saudi Arabia g KACST-TIC in Radio Frequency and Photonics for the e-Society (RFTONICS), King Saud University, Saudi Arabia article info Article history: Received 9 December 2010 Received in revised form 29 June 2014 Accepted 2 July 2014 Available online 24 August 2014 Keywords: Image watermarking Homomorphic transform SVD Wavelet transform abstract In this paper, a new homomorphic image watermarking method implementing the Singu- lar Value Decomposition (SVD) algorithm is presented. The idea of the proposed method is based on embedding the watermark with the SVD algorithm in the reflectance component after applying the homomorphic transform. The reflectance component contains most of the image features but with low energy, and hence watermarks embedded in this compo- nent will be invisible. A block-by-block implementation of the proposed method is also introduced. The watermark embedding on a block-by-block basis makes the watermark more robust to attacks. A comparison study between the proposed method and the tradi- tional SVD watermarking method is presented in the presence of attacks. The proposed method is more robust to various attacks. The embedding of chaotic encrypted watermarks is also investigated in this paper to increase the level of security. Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The spreading of digital multimedia nowadays has made copyright protection a necessity. Authentication and informa- tion hiding have also become important issues. To achieve these security requirements, watermarking technology can be used. Watermarking means embedding a piece of information into a cover signal or image in such a way that it is impercep- tible to a human observer, but is easily detectable by a computer or a detector (Cox, Miller, & Bloom, 2002). Several research- ers have worked in the field of watermarking for its importance (Cox et al., 2002; Podilchuk & Delp, 2001). The work in this field has led to several watermarking techniques such as the correlation-based techniques, the frequency-domain techniques, and the wavelet-domain techniques (Shoemaker & Rudko, 2002). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ipm.2014.07.001 0306-4573/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author at: Department of Electronics and Electrical Communications, Faculty of Electronic Engineering, Menoufia University, Menouf 32952, Egypt. E-mail addresses: dr.hanaaabdalaziz@gmail.com (H.A. Abdallah), eng_rasg@yahoo.com (R.A. Ghazy), Hany_kasban@yahoo.com (H. Kasban), osam_sal@yahoo.com (O.S. Faragallah), shaalan_zag2010@yahoo.com (A.A. Shaalan), mmhadhoud@yahoo.com (M.M. Hadhoud), dr_moawad@yahoo.com (M.I. Dessouky), nelfishawy@hotmail.com (N.A. El-Fishawy), dsaleh@ksu.edu.sa (S.A. Alshebeili), fathi_sayed@yahoo.com (F.E. Abd El-samie). Information Processing and Management 50 (2014) 909–923 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Information Processing and Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/infoproman