High-performance reversible data hiding in encrypted images with adaptive Huffman code

With the development of cloud computing, reversible data hiding in encrypted images (RDHEI) has attracted increasing attention. In this paper, a high-performance RDHEI algorithm with Adaptive Huffman Code (RDHEI-AHC) is proposed for cloud computing. First, multi-MSB (Most Significant Bit) of each pixel is predicted by geometric correction, which takes full advantage of spatial correlation. Next, the image is encrypted by stream cipher. Adaptive Huffman code is then used to insert the auxiliary information and secret message into the encrypted image. Finally, to resist ciphertext-only attacks, the marked encrypted image must be scrambled. In comparison to most state-of-the-art RDHEI approaches, experimental results show that the RDHEI-AHC method delivers a greater embedding rate and improved security.(c) 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.