A Reversible Data Hiding in Encryption Domain for JPEG Image Based on Controllable Ciphertext Range of Paillier Homomorphic Encryption Algorithm

Bin Ma, Chunxin Zhao, Ruihe Ma, Yongjin Xian, Chunpeng Wang

Abstract: With the rapid advancement of cloud computing, significant security concerns regarding data storage have been continuously raised. When the encrypted images are stored in the cloud, reversible data hiding in encrypted domain is used to embed additional data to manage the storage resources in the cloud. Most of the current works are applied to uncompressed images rather than JPEG images. Therefore, this paper proposes a reversible data hiding algorithm for JPEG images based on an enhanced Paillier homomorphic encryption algorithm. In the proposed scheme, the AC coefficients are altered by using a ciphertext distribution constrained paillier homomorphic encryption algorithm, so as to reduce the size of the data-embedded encrypted image. Whereas, the DC coefficients are encrypted by using the one-dimensional tangent chaos encryption algorithm, thereby ensuring high security of the encrypted image. Moreover, according to the characteristics of the homomorphic encryption algorithm, the confidential data can be recovered from both the encryption domain and from the plain domain. Experimental results demonstrate that the ciphertext distribution-constrained Paillier homomorphic encryption algorithm obtains higher data embedding capacity and superior security in comparison with other advanced algorithms.