Sejong, South Korea―Digital watermarking technology could be an effective tool for detecting disinformation, especially in an era where fabricators of misleading media are equipped with artificial intelligence technologies, suggested an expert on information hiding on Wednesday.
David Megias, a professor in the Faculty of Computer Science, Multimedia, and Telecommunications at the Open University of Catalonia, introduced various adaptations of data-hiding technologies to counter malicious cyber activities. He delivered his presentation to an international audience attending the Hacktheon Joint Conference, part of the Hacktheon Sejong Cyber Security Week event, held at the Government Complex Sejong Convention Center.
During his keynote speech, Megias, who is also a member of the Center for Cybersecurity Research of Catalonia (CYBERCAT), broke down information-hiding technologies into two branches: digital watermarking and steganography. Steganography, a term derived from the Greek words “Steganos” (meaning covert) and “Graphos” (meaning writing), describes a technique used to disguise information within ordinary messages, making it difficult for unsuspecting observers to notice and identify a text’s true meaning.
Basing his assessments on the work accomplished by an international project dubbed “DISSIMILAR” (Detection of Fake News on Social Media Platforms), Megias lauded digital watermarking as an especially effective tool for discerning fake content in an ever-evolving landscape where fakes are becoming increasingly difficult to detect. Beginning in 2021, to get ahead of this problem, a trio of nations—Spain, Poland, and Japan—started collaborating to develop a detection system combining several technologies, including digital watermarking. To illustrate the effectiveness of the trio’s work, Megias shared tampered images in which the adulterated portions were difficult to distinguish with the naked eye. However, after processing the images through DISSIMILAR’s watermarking detection system, the adulterations became clearly visible.
The expert explained that the typical approach to detecting disinformation involves using AI technologies. However, this presents challenges as both defenders and offenders continuously advance their techniques with the help of AI, leading to an infinite loop where both parties are caught in a never-ending cat-and-mouse game to gain the upper hand. Digital watermarking, however, could break this cycle by authenticating original content as being truly genuine using fewer computational resources compared to AI detection models, thereby providing a more sustainable solution.
“By embedding a watermark into the true contents, it can be extracted without the need for machine learning technology,” stated the expert. “You can detect if the content is true or fake without relying on a machine learning detector.” However, Megias noted its limitations, as the technique cannot be applied to content unable to be watermarked.
Meanwhile, the expert warned of the potential misuse of steganography by terrorists or cybercriminals, noting that current detection systems such as firewalls or content filters are not designed to counter steganography. “This allows criminals and terrorists to engage in secret communications and carry out illicit activities. This is a matter we must take very seriously,” stressed the expert.
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Sejong, South Korea― A local cybersecurity event that emerged from humble origins three years ago in a South Korean city has grown into an international gathering, welcoming over 1,300 college students from around the world as participants.
HackTheon Sejong is an annual conference hosted by Sejong City, located two hours’ drive from central Seoul and serving as the de facto administrative capital of South Korea. The city houses 23 central administrative agencies, 22 affiliated organizations, and several dozen public institutions.
The event’s name, HackTheon, combines ‘hacker’ and ‘pantheon,’ referencing an ancient Roman temple dedicated to the gods, which aligns with the city’s vision of gathering the world’s top cybersecurity talents in Sejong. College students participate in a jeopardy-style Capture-The-Flag (CTF) competition, showcasing their skills to answer questions and achieve the highest score among the 40 teams that reach the final round. These teams gathered at the Government Complex Sejong Convention Center from eight countries, totaling 146 participants. READ MORE
