Recently, insurance companies want to improve claim service process such as to shorten time and reduce cost by replacing a paper-based document interchange process with an electrical one and establishing a new framework for the group work. In a claim service of property insurance, an adjuster investigates actual damages or loss, and writes an estimation report with evidence photographs. A digital camera would be a useful tool for the purpose. However, one can easily alter a digital photograph or replace it with a false one by a computer, and insurance company may have a risk of forgery claims. This paper presents a new method to protect and detect alteration of digital photographs with watermarking technique and device authentication. We developed a prototype automobile insurance claim system, and verified its feasibility in an actual insurance claim service environment.
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