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Project Update: Implementation of a robust DCT-QIM Watermarking Pipeline for Intellectual Property Protection

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This is a project update describing the implementation of a robust watermarking pipeline using DCT-QIM (Discrete Cosine Transform - Quantization Index Modulation) for intellectual property protection. The system embeds a resilient payload into mid-frequency DCT coefficients of images and videos, designed to withstand modifications such as resampling, compression, and cropping. It uses Reed-Solomon channel coding for error correction and a soft-symbol scoring with beam search for extraction. Verification employs a normalized Levenshtein similarity metric to assess watermark integrity even under tampering. The project is intended to maintain authorship traceability of digital assets. No vulnerabilities or exploits are reported.

r/Information_Security (opens in a new tab)u/Ok-Werewolf93750 points0 comments

I am sharing an update on the methodology I’ve developed for securing digital assets against unauthorized use.

To ensure the integrity of my work, I have integrated a custom watermarking pipeline based on DCT-domain Quantization Index Modulation (QIM). This system is designed to embed a payload into mid-frequency DCT coefficients, providing a persistent signature even under heavy modifications such as resampling, aggressive compression, or partial cropping.

Key technical features of this implementation:

  • Resilience: The payload is protected by Reed-Solomon (RS) channel coding over $GF(2^8)$ to correct burst and random byte errors.
  • Extraction: It utilizes a soft-symbol scoring and byte-level beam search to recover candidates effectively, even when noise levels are high.
  • Verification: To assess correspondence, I use a normalized Levenshtein similarity metric. This provides a robust, interpretable match percentage—even if bit-level integrity (like CRC8) fails due to file tampering.

My goal with this project is to maintain authorship traceability, ensuring that as my research and code continue to circulate, the source remains verifiable.

Resources:

I am releasing these technical details to demonstrate the rigour behind the project's development. I welcome constructive technical discussion regarding the robustness of this pipeline.

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