Image authentication and tamper proofing using mathematical morphology

A novel method for image authentication and tamper proofing is proposed. A binary watermark is embedded in a grayscale or a color host image. The method succeeds in detecting alterations made in a watermarked image. The proposed method is robust against high quality lossy image compression. It provides the user not only with a measure for the authenticity of the test image but also with an image map that highlights the unaltered regions of the image when selective tampering has been made. Mathematical morphology techniques are also developed for the accurate detection of alterations in fine image details.