Improving the management of medical imaging by using robust and secure dual watermarking

Abstract Nowadays, the management of medical imaging could be affected by several issues related to information security. Among others, a critical issue is related to information authentication. A promissory way to solve this issue is the use of digital watermarking to improve the management of medical imaging. In this paper, we propose a robust and secure medical image watermarking method that involves invisible and zero watermarking techniques that provide a proper link between clinical information, medical image, and patient identity. Concealing an encoded and encrypted watermark signal in the frequency domain of the medical image, the invisible watermarking component avoids the detachment between the medical images and their corresponding electronic patient record. Based on a modified spread spectrum technique, the response of the invisible watermarking detector and the watermark information, the zero watermarking stage authenticates in a confidential form the identity of the patient. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed method in terms of transparency, security, reliability, and robustness of the watermark against several image processing operations. A comparison with state of the art proposals with similar purposes to the proposed method is also provided. The presented work may find applications in the secure and effective management of medical imaging.