A watermarking technique to improve the security level in face recognition systems

This paper presents a proposal for a suitable and viable combination of a face recognition system and a watermarking system, namely a PCA—DCT combination, as a new watermarked face recognition scheme that will ensure the authenticity of the data being transmitted in the face recognition system, which will then increase its level of security. The emphasis is on recognizing and rejecting stolen biometric data reintroduced into the system. The research begins with an analysis of biometric systems, with an emphasis on face recognition systems, and in particular with reference to the recorded threats on such systems, Biometric watermarking algorithms proposed by previous researchers within the face recog- nition environment are then studied, noting their proposed solutions to the said threats. This would then give a good idea towards a watermarked face recognition scheme to be proposed to enhance the security of face recognition systems, especially in terms of the authenticity of the data being transmitted. This watermarked face recognition scheme is the main objective, which will be then worked into the PCA—DCT combination, followed by a check on all the 8 possible locations where data may be intercepted and/or reintroduced. All the results produced are positive, apart from a few situations that will have to be left for future work. Non degradation of the individual PCA and DCT systems due to the combination is also checked and experimented on, again with positive results. Finally, the robustness of the watermarked face recognition scheme is experimented on to evaluate its resilience against attacks.