An authenticatable (2, 3) secret sharing scheme using meaningful share images based on hybrid fractal matrix

Abstract

Secret image sharing (SIS) scheme is an important technology to protect secret information. It distributes the secret data into multiple shares so that the participants can obtain the embedded secret by sharing their authenticated shares. Through a simple process of these shares, the secret data can be extracted. In this paper, we propose a (2, 3) SIS scheme based on a fractal matrix. Through guidance of the proposed fractal matrix, the secret data can be distributed into three shares which are indistinguishable from their corresponding cover images. Any two of the three distinct shares can cooperate to extract the exact secret data. Moreover, we devise two authentication mechanisms to prevent from tampering. Experimental results show that our proposed scheme can provide efficient payloads with shares of good visual quality. The authentications are also effective and easy to implement.