Threshold visual secret sharing by random grids

A new visual secret sharing (VSS) approach by random grids (RG-based VSS), proposed by Kafri and Keren (1987), has drawn close attention recently. With almost all advantages of visual cryptography-based VSS, RG-based VSS benefits more from keeping the same size of secret images without the problem of pixel expansion from which VC-based VSS suffer. In this paper, a threshold RG-based VSS scheme aiming at providing the wide-use version is presented. This is the first effort to develop the technique. The experimental results and theoretically analysis in visual quality and security show that the proposed scheme performs well.     

XOR-based progressive visual secret sharing using generalized random grids

This paper proposes an exclusive or (XOR)-based progressive visual secret sharing scheme that uses generalized random grids. This scheme differs from conventional visual secret sharing schemes. In addition to progressive recovery of secret messages, decrypting with an XOR operator produces reconstructed secret images with high visual quality when more shares are collected. Furthermore, the proposed scheme does not require a codebook to generate shares. In addition, there is no pixel expansion of the shares; thus, storing the shares does not result in additional burden. Experimental results reveal that the proposed scheme is superior to existing approaches with respect to performance and practicability.     

Visual secret sharing scheme for (<Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>, <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>) threshold based on QR code with multiple decryptions

In this paper, a novel visual secret sharing (VSS) scheme based on QR code (VSSQR) with (k, n) threshold is investigated. Our VSSQR exploits the error correction mechanism in the QR code structure, to generate the bits corresponding to shares (shadow images) by VSS from a secret bit in the processing of encoding QR. Each output share is a valid QR code that can be scanned and decoded utilizing a QR code reader, which may reduce the likelihood of attracting the attention of potential attackers. Due to different application scenarios, two different recovered ways of the secret image are given. The proposed VSS scheme based on QR code can visually reveal secret image with the abilities of stacking and XOR decryptions as well as scan every shadow image, i.e., a QR code, by a QR code reader. The secret image could be revealed by human visual system without any computation based on stacking when no lightweight computation device. On the other hand, if the lightweight computation device is available, the secret image can be revealed with better visual quality based on XOR operation and could be lossless revealed when sufficient shares are collected. In addition, it can assist alignment for VSS recovery. The experiment results show the effectiveness of our scheme.     

Reduce shadow size in aspect ratio invariant visual secret sharing schemes using a square block-wise operation

An aspect ratio invariant visual secret sharing (ARIVSS) scheme is a perfectly secure method for sharing secret images. Due to the nature of the VSS encryption, each secret pixel is expanded to m sub-pixels in each of the generated shares. The advantage of ARIVSS is that the aspect ratio of the recovered secret image is fixed and thus there is no loss of information when the shape of the secret image is our information. For example, a secret image of a circle is compromised to an ellipse if m does not have a square value. Two ARIVSS schemes based on processing one and four pixel blocks, respectively, were previously proposed. In this paper, we have generalized the square block-wise approach to further reduce pixel expansion.     

A random grid-based cyclic access structure VSS scheme for multiple secret images

Visual secret sharing (VSS) schemes based on visual cryptography (VC) or random grids (RGs) have been proposed in the past decade with the advantages of easy implementation, efficiency secret recovering and perfect security. As the concept of multiple secret images has gained more and more attention in academia, the novel concept of VC-based VSS with cyclic access structure has been discussed recently, which is a special case of multiple VSS, allowing participants to reconstruct the secret with the one next or last to him/her in a cyclic order. To obtain the benefit of RG-based VSS compared with VC-based VSS, this paper proposes the new VSS scheme with cyclic access structure for multiple secret images by random grids. The experimental results and theoretical security analysis demonstrate the feasibility.     

Probabilistic visual secret sharing schemes for grey-scale images and color images

Visual secret sharing (VSS) scheme is an encryption technique that utilizes the human visual system in recovering the secret image and does not require any cryptographic computation. Pixel expansion has been a major issue of VSS schemes. A number of probabilistic VSS schemes with minimum pixel expansion have been proposed for binary secret images. This paper presents a general probabilistic (k, n)-VSS scheme for grey-scale images and another scheme for color images. With our schemes, the pixel expansion can be set to a user-defined value. When this value is 1, there is no pixel expansion at all. The quality of reconstructed secret images, measured by average contrast (or average relative difference), is equivalent to the contrast of existing deterministic VSS schemes. Previous probabilistic VSS schemes for black-and-white images can be viewed as special cases in the schemes proposed here.     

Preserving user-friendly shadow and high-contrast quality for multiple visual secret sharing technique

Traditional secret sharing scheme that encrypts secret image based on mathematical calculation to construct shadows often requires the complicated computation to extract the secret. Later on, conventional visual cryptography scheme was developed to deal with the perplexed calculation in encryption and extraction of previous schemes. The stack-to-see technique can be used easily to reveal the secret by human visual system, which can shorten computation time. However, the expansion of image size and the noise-liked shares of previous schemes lead to the difficulty in transmission and storage. This study uses a pre-defined codebook to encode two secret images into two meaningful transparencies without pixel expansion. According to the turning mechanism, two secret images can be embedded into two shares simultaneously. The decryption process allows the user to get two secrets via turning and stacking. A notable feature of our scheme is that the black pixel value of the secret image can be completely extracted and the vision quality of stacking results can be identified clearly.     

Visual cryptographic techniques for secret image sharing: a review

ABSTRACT

A visual cryptography scheme (VCS) allows one to decrypt images without any knowledge of cryptography and computational efforts. VCS allows secret image sharing such that we can divide the original image into meaningful or nonmeaningful shares. The shares are distributed among participants; during decryption, the original secret image is recovered through stacking all or some of the shares by the human visual system. Various techniques of visual cryptography were constructed mainly for binary images but later, they were enhanced to handle gray-scale or color images. This article focuses on the study of various visual cryptographic schemes and analyses the performance on the basis of various parameters such as, pixel expansion, type of shares generated, image format, number of secret images, encryption method, etc.. In the proposed work, we give a precise and complete review of various visual cryptographic schemes based on different research works related to this area and cite the relevant literature.     

A multiple-level visual secret-sharing scheme without image size expansion

In traditional VSS schemes, the size of the share image is substantially expanded since each pixel of the secret image is mapped onto a block consisting of several pixels. In addition, the quality of the reconstructed secret image is normally degraded in contrast, especially for halftone images. This study proposes a VSS scheme that maps a block in a secret image onto one corresponding equal-sized block in each share image without image size expansion. Two types of techniques, including histogram width-equalization and histogram depth-equalization, are proposed to generate the corresponding share blocks containing multiple levels rather than two levels based on the density of black pixels on the blocks for a secret block. In the former technique, the gray-scale image histogram is obtained by uniformly splitting the range of the pixel gray levels in the secret image, while in the latter the buckets are created so that the area of each bucket is roughly constant by containing approximately the same number of pixels. The proposed schemes significantly improve the quality of the reconstructed secret image compared to several previous investigations.     

一种高效的(t,n)门限可视密码方案

首先提出了一种多秘密共享方案,该方案共享t个多重秘密,需要计算t个联立方程。然后基于多秘密共享的思想,提出了一种新的(t,n)门限可视密码方案。该方案把一幅秘密图像分割成t幅子秘密图像,每幅子秘密图像是原始图像的1/t;然后再由t幅子秘密图像计算出n幅共享图像,秘密送给n个参与者,其中每个共享图像与子秘密图像同样大小。使得任意t个或更多的参与者合作能够恢复原始秘密图像,而任意少于t个参与者却得不到有关原始图像的任何信息。另外,恢复的图像和秘密图像完全一样,没有任何失真。新方案安全、有效,是一种完备的(t,n)门限方案,适用于把黑白、灰度、彩色图像作为秘密进行共享。     

具有掩盖图像的可视秘密共享方案

由Naor和Shamir提出的可视秘密共享方案提供了一种将一个秘密的黑一白图像加密成共享的方案,不需要任何密码学的计算就可以通过这些共享获得原来的秘密图像。本文提供了一种对原有(k,n)VSSS(Visual Secret Sharing Scheme)方案的扩充,使得可以利用n幅掩盖图像形成n个子秘密,只要叠合其中的k个子秘密就可以从中恢复秘密图像的方法。在本文提出的方法中,n个子秘密均隐藏在无关的图形中。如果恢复过程中拥有的子秘密数小于k,那么即使一个拥有无穷计算能力的人也不能获得任何原始秘密图形的任何信息。     

具有伪装图案的操作式多秘密视觉密码

将环形共享份划分为伪装区域和秘密区域,结合(2,2)单秘密视觉密码方案的基础矩阵,设计了一种具有伪装图案的操作式多秘密视觉密码方案.该方案不仅能够分享任意数量的秘密图像,而且改善了同类方案的像素扩展度和相对差,更重要的是共享份呈现出有意义的伪装图案,从而降低了攻击者对共享份的威胁.     

Improved schemes for visual secret sharing based on random grids

Random grid (RG) is an alternative approach to realize a visual secret sharing (VSS) scheme. RG-based VSS has merits such as no pixel expansion and no tailor-made matrix requirement. Recently, many investigations on RG-based VSS are made. However, they need further improvements. In this paper, we obtain some improvements on RG-based VSS. Actually, two improved schemes are proposed, namely RG-based VSS for general access structure (GAS) with improved contrast and extended RG-based VSS with improved access structure. The first scheme can achieve better contrast than previous schemes. The second scheme reduces the chance of suspicion on secret image encryption by generating meaningful shares instead of noise-like shares in the first scheme, and improves the access structure from (k, k) to GAS while maintaining the property that the contrast of the recovered image is traded with that of share images by setting a certain parameter from small to large. Finally, theoretical analyses and experimental results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness and advantages of the proposed schemes.

     

Two secret sharing schemes based on Boolean operations

Traditional secret sharing schemes involve complex computation. A visual secret sharing (VSS) scheme decodes the secret without computation, but each shadow is m times as big as the original. Probabilistic VSS solved the computation complexity and space complexity problems at once. In this paper we propose a probabilistic (2,n) scheme for binary images and a deterministic (n,n) scheme for grayscale images. Both use simple Boolean operations and both have no pixel expansion. The (2,n) scheme provides a better contrast and significantly smaller recognized areas than other methods. The (n,n) scheme gives an exact reconstruction.     

一种新的彩色可视秘密共享方案

提出了一种基于线性方程组求解的彩色可视秘密共享方案。该方案把一幅图像秘密地分成n幅共享图像,使得任意k个或更多的共享能够恢复秘密图像,而任意少于k个共享却得不到有关原始图像的任意信息。另外,每个共享图像与原始图像有着同样大小,而且恢复图像和秘密图像完全一样,没有任何失真。所以它是一种理想、完备的（k,n）门限方案,适用于把黑白、灰度、彩色图像作为秘密进行共享。     

On general construction for extended visual cryptography schemes

Numerous visual cryptography schemes (VCSs) have been proposed to protect a secret image with share images. Most VCSs use random-looking shares to code a single binary secret image. Some schemes are designed for color secret images. Droste's [New results on visual cryptography, in: Advances in Cryptology-CRYPTO ’96, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 1109, Springer, Berlin, 1996, pp. 401-415] (n,n)-VCS is introduced for multiple binary secret images. Extended VCS (EVCS), by Ateniese et al. [Extended capabilities for visual cryptography, Theoretical Computer Science 250 (2001) 143-161], for binary secret image uses meaningful (innocent-looking) shares. In this paper, we start with a more concise derivation of matrix extension in the ECVS model. This is implemented by concatenating an extended matrix to each basis matrix. We then present a general construction method for single or multiple binary/grayscale/color secret images using matrix extension utilizing meaningful shares. The result (k,n)-visual secret sharing schemes are more general than most existing schemes in terms of the secret/share image types. Using our matrix extension algorithm, any existing VCS with random-looking shares can be easily modified to utilize meaningful shares. The effectiveness of our schemes is demonstrated by real examples.     

Visual multiple-secret sharing for flexible general access structure by random grids

For visual secret sharing (VSS), general access structure (GAS), which can freely define the qualified set and the forbidden set, provides dealers the ability to share secret information with the qualified set but not the forbidden set. In previous studies, the proposed GAS schemes have focused on strong GAS, but it has retained restrictions and inconvenience in some secret-sharing scenarios. Recently, the random-grid-based VSS (RG-based VSS) technique has aimed to overcome the problem of pixel expansion from which the visual-cryptography-based VSS (VC-based VSS) techniques usually suffer. This paper presents a flexible GAS VSS scheme by RG that is appropriate for wide use and that serves special cases like (2, n), (n, n), and (k, n). The paper also outlines how the scheme can be extended for multiple secrets. The performance and the security of the scheme are theoretically analyzed.     

Random-grid based progressive visual secret sharing scheme with adaptive priority

This paper describes a random-grid-based progressive visual secret sharing scheme, wherein the priority weighting of each share can be adjusted. In this scheme, shares are recovered progressively to obtain a secret image. Therefore, with increasing number of shares that are collected, more information of the secret image is recovered, and vice versa. In addition, each user participating in the secret sharing can adjust the priority weighting of a share based on their determined level of secrecy; thus, each share generated by the proposed scheme has a different priority weighting value. During decryption, depending on the priority weightings of the stacked shares, the secret image can be recovered to different extents. Further, the priority level of these shares cannot be distinguished based on the average light transmission of the reconstructed image, thereby guaranteeing high security.     

A novel secret image sharing scheme for true-color images with size constraint

Rapid development of telecommunication and service has made researchers think of intelligent tools to assist users in delivering critical data securely. When it comes to share digital images, owing to high frequent use of Mega pixel digital cameras or camera phones, true-color images become one common image type. In the last few years, several researches have been devoted to study of secret image sharing. What seems lacking is a scheme for sharing true-color secret images with size constraint. This paper proposes a new secret image sharing scheme for true-color secret images. Through combination of neural networks and variant visual secret sharing, the quality of the reconstructed secret image and camouflage images are visually the same as the corresponding original images. Compared with other schemes, the proposed one alone supports true-color secret image with size constraint on shares. Experimental results and comparisons demonstrate the feasibility of this scheme.     

Authentic secret share creation techniques using visual cryptography with public key encryption

In the digital transparent world, share the secret messages are challenged one. Visual cryptography (VC) is safer method for information transfer without any distraction by hackers. It is giving more security to the information sharing through digital form. This method hides the messages into images. So intruder cannot understand the distorted image and the data communication become secured. Through VC method number of shares has been generated from the original images. So here each RGB pixel shares are separately created by Visual Secret Share (VSS) scheme. The created multiple shares of the secret images are encrypted and decrypted with RSA algorithm. In the encryption process the multiplication technique is used for key generation process and public key is used for encryption process and private key is used for decryption process. Secret image’s quality has been compared through the Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Mean Square Error (MSE) values. The experimental result of decrypted image PSNR value is 156.32 and MSE value is 0.5031. The Number of Changing Pixel Rate (NPCR) and Unified Averaged Changed Intensity (UACI) values are compared for the secure level of the secret image. The result of decrypted image NPCR value is 69.44 and UACI value is 13.88. Finally, the experiment result shows that the proposed method is giving more security and quality of secret image sharing and also execution time is faster than existing method.