The Scheme of Reversible Data Hiding with Difference-preserved for Encrypted Images

Cloud technology has developed rapidly in recent years to protect data privacy and security in cloud applications. In this paper, we propose a new reversible data hiding in encrypted images (RDHEI) technique based on Difference Preserving Encryption (DPE), Modified Neighbor Mean Interpolation (MNMI), and Prediction Error Expansion (PEE). In the proposed method, the original image is downscaled, and MNMI is applied to generate an interpolated image. Then, both the original image and the interpolated image are encrypted using DPE. Next, prediction errors are calculated between the encrypted original image and the encrypted interpolated image. Afterward, secret data is embedded into the prediction errors using PEE. Finally, block permutation and pixel scrambling are applied to enhance security. An authorized receiver can use the reverse process to extract the secret message and decrypt the image without loss. Experimental results indicate that the proposed method achieves superior embedding payload and more effective encryption performance compared to existing schemes.