ORIGINAL ARTICLE A multipurpose image watermarking scheme for digital image protection Rishi Sinhal 1 • Irshad Ahmad Ansari 1 Received: 26 February 2019 / Revised: 17 June 2019 Ó The Society for Reliability Engineering, Quality and Operations Management (SREQOM), India and The Division of Operation and Maintenance, Lulea University of Technology, Sweden 2019 Abstract A multipurpose digital image watermarking scheme is proposed based on the multiple LSB bit substi- tution method. Fragile and robust watermarks are embed- ded into the host image for tamper and ownership detection respectively. Randomized insertion is used to insert a fragile watermark pattern to get better tamper detection. Secret keys are used in this scheme to secure data from forged/unauthorized access, which must be known to the end user to extract the watermark from the host. Tampering is done at random locations to cover most of the water- marked image’s area during testing of proposed scheme. Due to blind nature and randomized watermark insertion, high security is obtained. Experimental outcomes represent that the proposed method is able to achieve significant tamper detection. Proposed scheme exhibits robust nature towards common signal processing attacks and provides distortion-less robust watermark in case of no attack. This method also exhibits less execution time due to its time domain insertion methodology. A comparative analysis with the existing schemes shows that the proposed scheme has many features simultaneously such as blind extraction, high embedding capacity, low execution time, significant robustness, acceptable imperceptibility, and multipurpose nature. The proposed scheme can be utilized in fields where rapid response, ownership protection, and tamper detection are prime concerns. Keywords Multipurpose watermarking Á Image security Á Tamper detection Á Copyright protection 1 Introduction In the present time, signal transmission and reception becomes an integral part of our day to day life. With the inventions and advancements in the communication industry, accessibility to the information in very easily available to common man (Al-Haj and Abdel-Nabi 2017). Sometimes, an easy sharing of data is quite beneficial. For example: when the information is used for facilitating information sharing. But there is also a threat to misuse this easily accessible data. Many fields like military applica- tions (Luo et al. 2010), medical industry (Roc ˇek et al. 2016) or navigation systems (Muller and Baten 1995), etc. can’t afford any indolence regarding the security of the data (Giakoumaki et al. 2006). For example, distorted or altered information in a radiographic image of a certain pathology diagnosis may lead to the wrong diagnosis of a patient and finally affects the health of the patient. To protect the data from the unwanted intentional or unin- tentional attacks several digital watermarking methods are proposed in recent past (Coatrieux et al. 2006; Cox and Linnartz 1998). The use of specific watermarking method depends on the type of the data, attacks, availability of the tools and application etc. There is always a need for an efficient and fast technique for better results, and therefore it is an open area for research to develop a better technique than the previously proposed methods. & Irshad Ahmad Ansari irshad@iiitdmj.ac.in Rishi Sinhal rishi.sinhal.jec@gmail.com 1 Electronics and Communication Engineering, PDPM Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing Jabalpur, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh 482005, India 123 Int J Syst Assur Eng Manag https://doi.org/10.1007/s13198-019-00855-0