Abstract: This paper presents a hybrid image watermarking technique for data hiding over Internet. The idea of the proposed technique is based on fusing multiple watermark images using wavelet fusion algorithm. Then, the resultant fused watermark is embedded in the original image using hybrid DWT - block based SVD watermarking algorithm to produce the watermarked image. The image watermarking technique using the hybrid DWT-block based SVD is more robust than that using the SVD only. By using block based SVD instead of using traditional SVD, the watermarked images that are tampered can also be identified. That is, the extraction of the fused watermark is possible in the presence of severe attacks. Also this watermarking technique improves both the capacity of the embedded information and robustness without affecting the perceptual quality of the original image.

Keywords: Data Hiding, Wavelet Fusion, Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT), Singular Value Decomposition (SVD).