MAY 5, 2009--A New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT; Newark, NJ, USA) electrical engineer has cracked the code that will enable researchers to detect tampering with electronic images. Yun-Qing Shi, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, says that by using his program, he can usually inspect a photograph on a computer screen and know that someone has changed it.
He notes that he still cannot say, nor can anyone else, where in the media the image has been changed, but says that will be possible. Earlier this year, System and Method of Steganalysis, developed by Shi and his collaborator Guorong Xuan received a US patent. The research has already been licensed.
Since 2003, Shi has received four other patents in this area and awaits news of more than two dozen pending patents. Steganalysis is a method of determining whether data has been hidden in a digital medium. Image tampering came to the world's attention following changes to two widely-recognized images: a Los Angeles Times photo of the Iraqi War in 2003 and a BBC News image of the Israeli air strike against Beirut in 2006.
Since then, Shi, an expert in information assurance and digital data forensics has focused on new and better ways to detect tampering with electronic images. For more information, go to: http://www.njit.edu/news/2009/2009-123.php
-- Posted by Conard Holton, Vision Systems Design, www.vision-systems.com
