Multimedia Security 2

3Verifying Document Integrity

Petra GOMEZ-KRÄMER

L3i, La Rochelle University, France

An ever-increasing number of documents are dematerialized and processed every day, forming large streams of document images in companies, banks and administrative bodies. These documents may be original digital documents or scans of printed documents. Modern image editing software is easy to use and offers a simple way to modify the content of these images, for example by altering a date, name, address or amount to produce false “proof”. Verifying the integrity of these documents is thus becoming an increasingly important concern. In this chapter, we shall present the main image analysis approaches used to verify document integrity in the context of printable and scanable documents.

3.1. Introduction

According to reports published by the ONDRP in 2017 and 2019, the number of procedures relating to document and/or identity fraud in France increased by 6.3% between 2014 and 2017 (ONDRP 2017, 2019). Note that 14,944 procedures were recorded in 2017 alone, with 43.3% relating to fake identity papers, 27% to fake vehicle documentation and 29.7% to other fake administrative documents. Counterfeiting is the most widespread type of fraud (50.3%), followed by fraudulent use (20.8%) and forgery (16%).

In addition to the economic impact, document fraud represents a major security issue for society. The use of false documents to obtain identity documents or visas is a major problem for administrative ...