Component Forensics of Digital Cameras: A Non-Intrusive Approach

This paper considers the problem of component forensics and proposes a methodology to identify the algorithms and parameters employed by various processing modules inside a digital camera. The proposed analysis techniques are non-intrusive, using only sample output images collected from the camera to find the color filter array pattern; and the algorithm and parameters of color interpolation employed in cameras. As demonstrated by various case studies in the paper, the features obtained from component forensic analysis provide useful evidence for such applications as detecting technology infringement, protecting intellectual property rights, determining camera source, and identifying image tampering.