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Article

Unbreakable QR Code Watermarks: A High-Robustness Technique for Digital Image Security Using DWT, SVD, and Schur Factorization

by
Bashar Suhail Khassawneh
1,*,
Issa AL-Aiash
2,
Mahmoud AlJamal
3,*,
Omar Aljamal
4,
Latifa Abdullah Almusfar
5,
Bashair Faisal AlThani
5 and
Waad Aldossary
6
1
Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Computer Science and Informatics, Amman Arab University, Amman 11953, Jordan
2
Department of Information Technology, Faculty of Prince Al-Hussein bin Abdullah II for IT, The Hashemite University, Zarqa 13133, Jordan
3
Department of Cybersecurity, Science and Information Technology, Irbid National University, Irbid 21110, Jordan
4
Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Sciences, Al al-Bayt University, Mafraq 130040, Jordan
5
Department of Management Information Systems, College of Business Administration, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (IAU), Dammam 31451, Saudi Arabia
6
Department of Marketing, College of Business, Al Yamamah University, Khobar 12674, Saudi Arabia
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Cryptography 2026, 10(1), 4; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryptography10010004
Submission received: 18 November 2025 / Revised: 10 December 2025 / Accepted: 14 December 2025 / Published: 30 December 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Techniques in Watermarking, Encryption and Steganography for Secure Communication)
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Abstract

In the digital era, protecting the integrity and ownership of digital content is increasingly crucial, particularly against unauthorized copying and tampering. Traditional watermarking techniques often struggle to remain robust under various image manipulations, leading to a need for more resilient methods. To address this challenge, we propose a novel watermarking technique that integrates the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT), Singular Value Decomposition (SVD), and Schur matrix factorization to embed a QR code as a watermark into digital images. Our method was rigorously tested across a range of common image attacks, including histogram equalization, salt-and-pepper noise, ripple distortions, smoothing, and extensive cropping. The results demonstrate that our approach significantly outperforms existing methods, achieving high normalized correlation (NC) values such as 0.9949 for histogram equalization, 0.9846 for salt-and-pepper noise (2%), 0.96063 for ripple distortion, 0.9670 for smoothing, and up to 0.9995 under 50% cropping. The watermark consistently maintained its integrity and scannability under all tested conditions, making our method a reliable solution for enhancing digital copyright protection.
Keywords: Schur matrix factorization; robust watermark; salt-and-pepper attack; ownership proofing Schur matrix factorization; robust watermark; salt-and-pepper attack; ownership proofing

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MDPI and ACS Style

Khassawneh, B.S.; AL-Aiash, I.; AlJamal, M.; Aljamal, O.; Almusfar, L.A.; AlThani, B.F.; Aldossary, W. Unbreakable QR Code Watermarks: A High-Robustness Technique for Digital Image Security Using DWT, SVD, and Schur Factorization. Cryptography 2026, 10, 4. https://doi.org/10.3390/cryptography10010004

AMA Style

Khassawneh BS, AL-Aiash I, AlJamal M, Aljamal O, Almusfar LA, AlThani BF, Aldossary W. Unbreakable QR Code Watermarks: A High-Robustness Technique for Digital Image Security Using DWT, SVD, and Schur Factorization. Cryptography. 2026; 10(1):4. https://doi.org/10.3390/cryptography10010004

Chicago/Turabian Style

Khassawneh, Bashar Suhail, Issa AL-Aiash, Mahmoud AlJamal, Omar Aljamal, Latifa Abdullah Almusfar, Bashair Faisal AlThani, and Waad Aldossary. 2026. "Unbreakable QR Code Watermarks: A High-Robustness Technique for Digital Image Security Using DWT, SVD, and Schur Factorization" Cryptography 10, no. 1: 4. https://doi.org/10.3390/cryptography10010004

APA Style

Khassawneh, B. S., AL-Aiash, I., AlJamal, M., Aljamal, O., Almusfar, L. A., AlThani, B. F., & Aldossary, W. (2026). Unbreakable QR Code Watermarks: A High-Robustness Technique for Digital Image Security Using DWT, SVD, and Schur Factorization. Cryptography, 10(1), 4. https://doi.org/10.3390/cryptography10010004

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