Open Access

ARTICLE

A Secure and Lightweight Chaos Based Image Encryption Scheme

Fadia Ali Khan¹, Jameel Ahmed¹, Fehaid Alqahtani², Suliman A. Alsuhibany³, Fawad Ahmed⁴, Jawad Ahmad^5,*

1 Department of Electrical Engineering, Riphah International University, Islamabad, 44000, Pakistan
2 Department of Computer Science, King Fahad Naval Academy, Al Jubail, 35512, Saudi Arabia
3 Department of Computer Science, College of Computer, Qassim University, Buraydah, 51452, Saudi Arabia
4 Department of Cyber Security, Pakistan Navy Engineering College, NUST, Karachi 75350, Pakistan
5 School of Computing, Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh, EH10 5DT, United Kingdom

* Corresponding Author: Jawad Ahmad. Email:

Computers, Materials & Continua 2022, 73(1), 279-294. https://doi.org/10.32604/cmc.2022.028789

Received 17 February 2022; Accepted 25 March 2022; Issue published 18 May 2022

Abstract

In this paper, we present an image encryption scheme based on the multi-stage chaos-based image encryption algorithm. The method works on the principle of confusion and diffusion. The proposed scheme containing both confusion and diffusion modules are highly secure and effective as compared to the existing schemes. Initially, an image (red, green, and blue components) is partitioned into blocks with an equal number of pixels. Each block is then processed with Tinkerbell Chaotic Map (TBCM) to get shuffled pixels and shuffled blocks. Composite Fractal Function (CFF) change the value of pixels of each color component (layer) to obtain a random sequence. Through the obtained random sequence, three layers of plain image are encrypted. Finally, with each encrypted layer, Brownian Particles (BP) are XORed that added an extra layer of security. The experimental tests including a number of statistical tests validated the security of the presented scheme. The results reported in the paper show that the proposed scheme has higher security and is lightweight as compared to state-of-the-art methods proposed in the literature.

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Keywords

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