# WaveGuard: Robust Deepfake Detection and Source Tracing via Dual-Tree Complex Wavelet and Graph Neural Networks

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.08614 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.08614/

## Key facts

- Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 32 of its 68 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 13 May 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 32)

- [Adam: A Method for Stochastic Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1412.6980/) (2014)
- [PyTorch: An Imperative Style, High-Performance Deep Learning Library](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.01703/) (2019)
- [Progressive Growing of GANs for Improved Quality, Stability, and Variation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1710.10196/) (2017)
- [CBAM: Convolutional Block Attention Module](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1807.06521/) (2018)
- [FaceForensics++: Learning to Detect Manipulated Facial Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1901.08971/) (2019)
- [StarGAN v2: Diverse Image Synthesis for Multiple Domains](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.01865/) (2019)
- [MaskGAN: Towards Diverse and Interactive Facial Image Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1907.11922/) (2019)
- [Celeb-DF: A Large-scale Challenging Dataset for DeepFake Forensics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.12962/) (2019)
- [Thinking in Frequency: Face Forgery Detection by Mining Frequency-aware Clues](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.09355/) (2020)
- [HiDDeN: Hiding Data With Deep Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1807.09937/) (2018)
- [Exposing DeepFake Videos By Detecting Face Warping Artifacts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1811.00656/) (2018)
- [StegaStamp: Invisible Hyperlinks in Physical Photographs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.05343/) (2019)
- [SimSwap: An Efficient Framework For High Fidelity Face Swapping](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.06340/) (2021)
- [Artificial Fingerprinting for Generative Models: Rooting Deepfake Attribution in Training Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.08457/) (2020)
- [GANimation: Anatomically-aware Facial Animation from a Single Image](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1807.09251/) (2018)
- [FakeCatcher: Detection of Synthetic Portrait Videos using Biological Signals](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1901.02212/) (2019)
- [EditGuard: Versatile Image Watermarking for Tamper Localization and Copyright Protection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.08883/) (2023)
- [MBRS : Enhancing Robustness of DNN-based Watermarking by Mini-Batch of Real and Simulated JPEG Compression](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.08211/) (2021)
- [HifiFace: 3D Shape and Semantic Prior Guided High Fidelity Face Swapping](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.09965/) (2021)
- [Responsible Disclosure of Generative Models Using Scalable Fingerprinting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.08726/) (2020)
- [Disrupting Deepfakes: Adversarial Attacks Against Conditional Image Translation Networks and Facial Manipulation Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.01279/) (2020)
- [Towards Blind Watermarking: Combining Invertible and Non-invertible Mechanisms](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.12678/) (2022)
- [CMUA-Watermark: A Cross-Model Universal Adversarial Watermark for Combating Deepfakes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.10872/) (2021)
- [Deepfake Detection: A Comprehensive Survey from the Reliability Perspective](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.10881/) (2022)
- [SepMark: Deep Separable Watermarking for Unified Source Tracing and Deepfake Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.06321/) (2023)
- [Anti-Forgery: Towards a Stealthy and Robust DeepFake Disruption Attack via Adversarial Perceptual-aware Perturbations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.00477/) (2022)
- [TAFIM: Targeted Adversarial Attacks against Facial Image Manipulations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.09151/) (2021)
- [LampMark: Proactive Deepfake Detection via Training-Free Landmark Perceptual Watermarks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.17209/) (2024)
- [Robust Identity Perceptual Watermark Against Deepfake Face Swapping](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.01357/) (2023)
- [FaceGuard: Proactive Deepfake Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.05673/) (2021)

## Built on by (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [Boosting Active Defense Persistence: A Two-Stage Defense Framework Combining Interruption and Poisoning Against Deepfake](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.07795/) (2025)
- [All in One: Unifying Deepfake Detection, Tampering Localization, and Source Tracing with a Robust Landmark-Identity Watermark](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.23523/) (2026)
- [Whether, Which, and Whose: Solving the Triple Challenge of Deepfake Proactive Forensics in Multi-Face Scenarios](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.26342/) (2026)
- [GIFGuard: Proactive Forensics against Deepfakes in Facial GIFs via Spatiotemporal Watermarking](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.26519/) (2026)
- [Adaptive Equilibrium: Dynamic Weighting Framework for Generalized Interruption of DeepFake Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.00443/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Deepfake technology poses increasing risks such as privacy invasion and identity theft. To address these threats, we propose WaveGuard, a proactive watermarking framework that enhances robustness and imperceptibility via frequency-domain embedding and graph-based structural consistency. Specifically, we embed watermarks into high-frequency sub-bands using Dual-Tree Complex Wavelet Transform (DT-CWT) and employ a Structural Consistency Graph Neural Network (SC-GNN) to preserve visual quality. We also design an attention module to refine embedding precision. Experimental results on face swap and reenactment tasks demonstrate that WaveGuard outperforms state-of-the-art methods in both robustness and visual quality. Code is available at https://github.com/vpsg-research/WaveGuard.