International Conference on Security and Cryptography - SECRYPT, Barcelona, Spain, July 28 - 31, 2007

utilizing extension character ‘kashida’ with pointed letters for arabic text digital watermarking

Adnan Abdul-Aziz Gutub, Lahouari Ghouti, Alaaeldin A. Amin, Talal M. Alkharobi

Computer Engineering Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, SAUDI ARABIA

gutub, lahouari, amindin, talalkh @kfupm.edu.sa

Mohammad K. Ibrahim

School of Engineering and Technology,De Montfort University,Leicester LE1 9BH, United Kingdom

ibrahim@dmu.ac.uk

Keywords: Arabic text, Cryptography, Feature coding, Information security, Steganography, Text watermarking.

Abstract: This paper exploits the existence of the redundant Arabic extension character, i.e. Kashida. We propose to use pointed letters in Arabic text with a Kashida to hold the secret bit ‘one’ and the un-pointed letters with a Kashida to hold ‘zero’. The method can be classified under secrecy feature coding methods where it hides secret information bits within the letters benefiting from their inherited points. This watermarking technique is found attractive too to other languages having similar texts to Arabic such as Persian and Urdu.