A COMBINED APPROACH OF DWT-DCT FOR BLIND MEDICAL IMAGE WATERMARKING

Abstract

With the rapid advancement of digital technologies, the sharing and distribution of medical images have become widespread, posing serious security challenges. To protect sensitive medical data from unauthorized access and tampering, watermarking has emerged as a crucial security measure. In addition, the concept of watermarking has become vital in preserving the integrity and authenticity of these images. Traditional watermarking techniques faced limitations in terms of robustness and visibility, especially for medical imaging, where image quality is paramount. To overcome these challenges, this work introduces an innovative blind medical image watermarking technique that combines the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) and Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT). The proposed method ensures robust and imperceptible watermark embedding and retrieval while maintaining the visual quality of medical images. The significance of robust and imperceptible medical image watermarking cannot be overstated. As medical institutions increasingly adopt digital practices like telemedicine and electronic health records, the risk of data breaches, tampering, and unethical practices also rises. An efficient watermarking technique is crucial to protect patient privacy, maintain trust in medical institutions, and ensure the authenticity of medical data. The combined DWT-DCT approach presented in this paper offers a promising solution by enabling secure watermark embedding and retrieval, ensuring tamper detection and authentication.