{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,31]],"date-time":"2025-12-31T16:10:28Z","timestamp":1767197428688,"version":"3.48.0"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,30]],"date-time":"2025-12-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1767052800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Cryptography"],"abstract":"<jats:p>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.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/cryptography10010004","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,31]],"date-time":"2025-12-31T15:30:32Z","timestamp":1767195032000},"page":"4","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Unbreakable QR Code Watermarks: A High-Robustness Technique for Digital Image Security Using DWT, SVD, and Schur Factorization"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0000-4647-0460","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bashar Suhail","family":"Khassawneh","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Computer Science and Informatics, Amman Arab University, Amman 11953, Jordan"}]},{"given":"Issa","family":"AL-Aiash","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Information Technology, Faculty of Prince Al-Hussein bin Abdullah II for IT, The Hashemite University, Zarqa 13133, Jordan"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-5389-6778","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mahmoud","family":"AlJamal","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cybersecurity, Science and Information Technology, Irbid National University, Irbid 21110, Jordan"}]},{"given":"Omar","family":"Aljamal","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Sciences, Al al-Bayt University, Mafraq 130040, Jordan"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3944-0447","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Latifa Abdullah","family":"Almusfar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Management Information Systems, College of Business Administration, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (IAU), Dammam 31451, Saudi Arabia"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7643-1224","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bashair Faisal","family":"AlThani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Management Information Systems, College of Business Administration, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (IAU), Dammam 31451, Saudi Arabia"}]},{"given":"Waad","family":"Aldossary","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Marketing, College of Business, Al Yamamah University, Khobar 12674, Saudi Arabia"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1175","DOI":"10.1049\/itr2.12504","article-title":"Cyber security analysis of connected vehicles","volume":"18","author":"Mwanje","year":"2024","journal-title":"IET Intell. 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II Express Briefs"}],"container-title":["Cryptography"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2410-387X\/10\/1\/4\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,31]],"date-time":"2025-12-31T16:06:53Z","timestamp":1767197213000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2410-387X\/10\/1\/4"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,30]]},"references-count":33,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2]]}},"alternative-id":["cryptography10010004"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/cryptography10010004","relation":{},"ISSN":["2410-387X"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2410-387X","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,30]]}}}