Passive Image Forgery Detection Techniques: A Review, Challenges, and Future Directions

The rapid advancement of science and technology has led to the potential for easy manipulation of multimedia content through the use of diverse editing tools. This poses a significant threat to the credibility and integrity of multimedia information. Consequently, substantiating digital images is becoming gradually crucial as digital images hold vital information and are used as essential pieces of evidence in various sectors. The necessity and relevance of digital image forensics have drawn several academics to develop various detection procedures in image forensics. Passive image forgery detection is the foundation of image forensics. Some common passive forgeries that influence the image’s authenticity are image splicing, copy-move, and retouching. In recent times, substantial research effort has been devoted to developing novel approaches for detecting several image forgeries. This study provides an overview of similar research efforts that have been carried out utilizing a well-defined methodology. Our goal is to create an efficient way for image forensics researchers to discover new features of forgeries. This study presents a brief introduction to image forensics, including a historical perspective, taxonomy, and framework of image forgery detection approaches. Various resources useful to academic researchers, such as journals, datasets, websites, and performance parameters are explored and presented. This paper will provide a comprehensive review that will aid researchers in overcoming the numerous challenges experienced in earlier studies. Also, future directions are provided to help scholars in this domain. The purpose of this research is to evaluate passive image forgery detection approaches, therefore benefiting new researchers.