Encrypted domain reversible data hiding based on proxy re-encryption in distributed environment

Reversible data hiding in encrypted domain (RDH-ED) addresses data security and privacy protection issues. However, traditional RDH-ED algorithms face challenges in terms of dynamic authorization, multiparty collaboration, and secure sharing in distributed environments. To address these issues, this study proposes a certificateless and verifiable broadcast proxy re-encryption (CVBPRE) algorithm and introduces a proxy re-encryption-based reversible data hiding in encrypted domain (PRE-RDHED) algorithm. The CVBPRE algorithm combines broadcast proxy re-encryption (BPRE) with polynomial operations, thereby eliminating reliance on bilinear pairings to achieve efficient identity security verification. The PRE-RDHED algorithm employs proxy re-encryption (PRE) to store re-encrypted ciphertext fragments across multiple proxy nodes, thereby enabling fine-grained data access control and dynamic identity verification to ensure secure and efficient data sharing and collaboration in distributed environments. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithms satisfy indistinguishability under an adaptive chosen ciphertext attack (IND-CCA2) in the random oracle model and outperform existing schemes in terms of efficiency, security and capacity. The integration of PRE and RDH-ED enables information hiding in re-encrypted ciphertexts, facilitating secure and flexible data sharing across distributed environments.