Conceptual Approach of Hybrid DWT and SVD based Digital Image Watermarking for Fingerprint Security

Protection of biometric data is gaining interest and digital watermarking techniques are used to protect the biometric data from either accidental or intentional attacks. The information used for identification or verification of a fingerprint, mainly lies in its minutiae. Digital image watermarking is been a useful solution to numerous problems like for information security, for copyright and for network security. So a new watermarking algorithm is proposed based on Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) and discrete wavelet transform (DWT). The algorithm converted the minutiae into binary watermark, increasing embedded information capacity. The algorithm can satisfy the transparence and robustness of the watermarking system very well and the useful information can be extracted accurately even if the fingerprint is severely degraded