Skip to content

Hunting wild stego images, a domain adaptation problem in digital image forensics

Published: 2020
Primary Author: Li Lin
Research Area: Digital

Digital image forensics is a field encompassing camera identication, forgery detection and steganalysis. Statistical modeling and machine learning have been successfully applied in the academic community of this maturing field. Still, large gaps exist between academic results and applications used by practicing forensic analysts, especially when the target samples are drawn from a different population than the data in a reference database.

This thesis contains four published papers aiming at narrowing this gap in three different fields: mobile stego app detection, digital image steganalysis and camera identification. It is the first work to explore a way of extending the academic methods to real world images created by apps. New ideas and methods are developed for target images with very rich flexibility in the embedding rates, embedding algorithms, exposure settings and camera sources. The experimental results proved that the proposed methods work very well, even for the devices which are not included in the reference database.

Related Resources

Forensic Footwear: A Retrospective of the Development of the MANTIS Shoe Scanning System

Forensic Footwear: A Retrospective of the Development of the MANTIS Shoe Scanning System

There currently are no shoe-scanning devices developed in the United States that can operate in a real-world, variable-weather environment in real-time. Forensics-focused groups, including the NIJ, expressed the need for…
Examiner consistency in perceptions of fingerprint minutia rarity

Examiner consistency in perceptions of fingerprint minutia rarity

Friction ridge examiners (FREs) identify distinctive features (minutiae) in fingerprints and consider how rare these observed minutiae are in their decisions about both the value of a fingerprint and whether…
Incorrect statistical reasoning in Guyll et al. leads to biased claims about strength of forensic evidence

Incorrect statistical reasoning in Guyll et al. leads to biased claims about strength of forensic evidence

Guyll et al. (1) make an error in statistical reasoning that could lead judges and jurors in criminal trials to grossly misinterpret forensic evidence. Their error leads to highly inflated…
Interoperability Study of 3D Instruments Used in Firearms Identification

Interoperability Study of 3D Instruments Used in Firearms Identification

In forensic firearms identification, one of the newest emerging technologies is three-dimensional (3D) imaging. The 3D technology allows firearms examiners to virtually compare high-resolution 3D images of the surfaces of…