Beyond User-Side Defenses: Image Protection in Open-Weight Diffusion Models

Jihye Kang, Jiwon Park, Namhyuk Ahn

Model providers can support image protection, but open-weight deployment introduces practical constraints. We propose four requirements: protection effectiveness, clean fidelity, compatibility, and tamper resistance. We incorporate long-horizon attack simulations to strengthen resistance to protection removal. Experiments with a single protection tool show improved resistance to re-alignment at a cost to clean fidelity, motivating further research toward practical model-side protection.