Design of an image encryption scheme based on a multiple chaotic map

In order to solve the problem that chaos is degenerated in limited computer precision and Cat map is the small key space, this paper presents a chaotic map based on topological conjugacy and the chaotic characteristics are proved by Devaney definition. In order to produce a large key space, a Cat map named block Cat map is also designed for permutation process based on multiple-dimensional chaotic maps. The image encryption algorithm is based on permutation–substitution, and each key is controlled by different chaotic maps. The entropy analysis, differential analysis, weak-keys analysis, statistical analysis, cipher random analysis, and cipher sensibility analysis depending on key and plaintext are introduced to test the security of the new image encryption scheme. Through the comparison to the proposed scheme with AES, DES and Logistic encryption methods, we come to the conclusion that the image encryption method solves the problem of low precision of one dimensional chaotic function and has higher speed and higher security.     

An efficient diffusion approach for chaos-based image encryption

One of the existing chaos-based image cryptosystems is composed of alternative substitution and diffusion stages. A multi-dimensional chaotic map is usually employed in the substitution stage for image pixel permutation while a one-dimensional (1D) chaotic map is used for diffusion purpose. As the latter usually involves real number arithmetic operations, the overall encryption speed is limited by the diffusion stage. In this paper, we propose a more efficient diffusion mechanism using simple table lookup and swapping techniques as a light-weight replacement of the 1D chaotic map iteration. Simulation results show that at a similar security level, the proposed cryptosystem needs about one-third the encryption time of a similar cryptosystem. The effective acceleration of chaos-based image cryptosystems is thus achieved.     

A novel image encryption algorithm based on a 3D chaotic map

Recently [Solak E, Çokal C, Yildiz OT Biyikogˇlu T. Cryptanalysis of Fridrich’s chaotic image encryption. Int J Bifur Chaos 2010;20:1405-1413] cryptanalyzed the chaotic image encryption algorithm of [Fridrich J. Symmetric ciphers based on two-dimensional chaotic maps. Int J Bifur Chaos 1998;8(6):1259-1284], which was considered a benchmark for measuring security of many image encryption algorithms. This attack can also be applied to other encryption algorithms that have a structure similar to Fridrich’s algorithm, such as that of [Chen G, Mao Y, Chui, C. A symmetric image encryption scheme based on 3D chaotic cat maps. Chaos Soliton Fract 2004;21:749-761]. In this paper, we suggest a novel image encryption algorithm based on a three dimensional (3D) chaotic map that can defeat the aforementioned attack among other existing attacks. The design of the proposed algorithm is simple and efficient, and based on three phases which provide the necessary properties for a secure image encryption algorithm including the confusion and diffusion properties. In phase I, the image pixels are shuffled according to a search rule based on the 3D chaotic map. In phases II and III, 3D chaotic maps are used to scramble shuffled pixels through mixing and masking rules, respectively. Simulation results show that the suggested algorithm satisfies the required performance tests such as high level security, large key space and acceptable encryption speed. These characteristics make it a suitable candidate for use in cryptographic applications.     

Cryptanalyzing an improved security modulated chaotic encryption scheme using ciphertext absolute value

This paper describes the security weakness of a recently proposed improved chaotic encryption method based on the modulation of a signal generated by a chaotic system with an appropriately chosen scalar signal. The aim of the improvement is to avoid the breaking of chaotic encryption schemes by means of the return map attack introduced by Pérez and Cerdeira. A method of attack based on taking the absolute value of the ciphertext is presented, that allows for the cancellation of the modulation scalar signal and the determination of some system parameters that play the role of system key. The proposed improved method is shown to be compromised without any knowledge of the chaotic system parameter values and even without knowing the transmitter structure.     

Cryptanalysis of an image encryption scheme based on a new total shuffling algorithm

Chaotic systems have been broadly exploited through the last two decades to build encryption methods. Recently, two new image encryption schemes have been proposed, where the encryption process involves a permutation operation and an XOR-like transformation of the shuffled pixels, which are controlled by three chaotic systems. This paper discusses some defects of the schemes and how to break them with a chosen-plaintext attack.     

A chaotic image encryption scheme owning temp-value feedback

Many round-based chaotic image encryption algorithms employ the permutation–diffusion structure. This structure has been found insecure when the iteration round is equal to one and the secret permutation of some existing schemes can be recovered even a higher round is adopted. In this paper, we present a single round permutation–diffusion chaotic cipher for gray image, in which some temp-value feedback mechanisms are introduced to resist the known attacks. Specifically, we firstly embed the plaintext feedback technique in the permutation process to develop different permutation sequences for different plain-images and then employ plaintext/ciphertext feedback for diffusion to generate equivalent secret key dynamically. Experimental results show that the new scheme owns large key space and can resist the differential attack. It is also efficient.     

Cryptanalyzing a nonlinear chaotic algorithm (NCA) for image encryption

This paper describes the security weakness of a recently proposed image encryption algorithm based on a logistic-like new chaotic map. We show that the chaotic map’s distribution is far from ideal, thus making it a bad candidate as a pseudo-random stream generator. As a consequence, the images encrypted with this algorithm are shown to be breakable through different attacks of variable complexity.     

A chaotic block cipher algorithm for image cryptosystems

Recently, many scholars have proposed chaotic cryptosystems in order to promote communication security. However, there are a number of major problems detected in some of those schemes such as weakness against differential attack, slow performance speed, and unacceptable data expansion. In this paper, we introduce a new chaotic block cipher scheme for image cryptosystems that encrypts block of bits rather than block of pixels. It encrypts 256-bits of plainimage to 256-bits of cipherimage within eight 32-bit registers. The scheme employs the cryptographic primitive operations and a non-linear transformation function within encryption operation, and adopts round keys for encryption using a chaotic system. The new scheme is able to encrypt large size of images with superior performance speed than other schemes. The security analysis of the new scheme confirms a high security level and fairly uniform distribution.     

A new substitution–diffusion based image cipher using chaotic standard and logistic maps

In this paper, we propose a new loss-less symmetric image cipher based on the widely used substitution–diffusion architecture which utilizes chaotic standard and logistic maps. It is specifically designed for the coloured images, which are 3D arrays of data streams. The initial condition, system parameter of the chaotic standard map and number of iterations together constitute the secret key of the algorithm. The first round of substitution/confusion is achieved with the help of intermediate XORing keys calculated from the secret key. Then two rounds of diffusion namely the horizontal and vertical diffusions are completed by mixing the properties of horizontally and vertically adjacent pixels, respectively. In the fourth round, a robust substitution/confusion is accomplished by generating an intermediate chaotic key stream (CKS) image in a novel manner with the help of chaotic standard and logistic maps. The security and performance of the proposed image encryption technique has been analyzed thoroughly using various statistical analysis, key sensitivity analysis, differential analysis, key space analysis, speed analysis, etc. Results of the various types of analysis are encouraging and suggest that the proposed image encryption technique is able to manage the trade offs between the security and speed and hence suitable for the real-time secure image and video communication applications.     

A novel image encryption scheme based on spatial chaos map

In recent years, the chaos-based cryptographic algorithms have suggested some new and efficient ways to develop secure image encryption techniques, but the drawbacks of small key space and weak security in one-dimensional chaotic cryptosystems are obvious. In this paper, spatial chaos system are used for high degree security image encryption while its speed is acceptable. The proposed algorithm is described in detail. The basic idea is to encrypt the image in space with spatial chaos map pixel by pixel, and then the pixels are confused in multiple directions of space. Using this method one cycle, the image becomes indistinguishable in space due to inherent properties of spatial chaotic systems. Several experimental results, key sensitivity tests, key space analysis, and statistical analysis show that the approach for image cryptosystems provides an efficient and secure way for real time image encryption and transmission from the cryptographic viewpoint.     

Image encryption based on synchronization of fractional chaotic systems

This paper deals with a synchronization scheme for two fractional chaotic systems which is applied in image encryption. Based on Pecora and Carroll (PC) synchronization, fractional-order Lorenz-like system forms a master–slave configuration, and the sufficient conditions are derived to realize synchronization between these two systems via the Laplace transformation theory. An image encryption algorithm is introduced where the original image is encoded by a nonlinear function of a fractional chaotic state. Simulation results show that the original image is well masked in the cipher texts and recovered successfully through chaotic signals. Further, the cryptanalysis is conducted in detail through histogram, information entropy, key space and sensitivity to verify the high security.     

An efficient self-adaptive model for chaotic image encryption algorithm

In this paper, an efficient self-adaptive model for chaotic image encryption algorithm is proposed. With the help of the classical structure of permutation-diffusion and double simple two-dimensional chaotic systems, an efficient and fast encryption algorithm is designed. However, different from most of the existing methods which are found insecure upon chosen-plaintext or known-plaintext attack in the process of permutation or diffusion, the keystream generated in both operations of our method is dependent on the plain-image. Therefore, different plain-images will have different keystreams in both processes even just only a bit is changed in the plain-image. This design can solve the problem of fixed chaotic sequence produced by the same initial conditions but for different images. Moreover, the operation speed is high because complex mathematical methods, such as Runge–Kutta method, of solving the high-dimensional partial differential equations are avoided. Numerical experiments show that the proposed self-adaptive method can well resist against chosen-plaintext and known-plaintext attacks, and has high security and efficiency.     

An asymmetric image cryptosystem based on the adaptive synchronization of an uncertain unified chaotic system and a cellular neural network

Chaotic dynamics provide a fast and simple means to create an excellent image cryptosystem, because it is extremely sensitive to initial conditions and system parameters, pseudorandomness, and non-periodicity. However, most chaos-based image encryption schemes are symmetric cryptographic techniques, which have been proven to be more vulnerable, compared to an asymmetric cryptosystem. This paper develops an asymmetric image cryptosystem, based on the adaptive synchronization of two different chaotic systems, namely a unified chaotic system and a cellular neural network. An adaptive controller with parameter update laws is formulated, using the Lyapunov stability theory, to asymptotically synchronize the two chaotic systems. The synchronization controller is embedded in the image cryptosystem and generates a pair of asymmetric keys, for image encryption and decryption. Using numerical simulations, three sets of experiments are conducted to evaluate the feasibility and reliability of the proposed chaos-based image cryptosystem.     

A robust chaotic algorithm for digital image steganography

This paper proposes a new robust chaotic algorithm for digital image steganography based on a 3-dimensional chaotic cat map and lifted discrete wavelet transforms. The irregular outputs of the cat map are used to embed a secret message in a digital cover image. Discrete wavelet transforms are used to provide robustness. Sweldens’ lifting scheme is applied to ensure integer-to-integer transforms, thus improving the robustness of the algorithm. The suggested scheme is fast, efficient and flexible. Empirical results are presented to showcase the satisfactory performance of our proposed steganographic scheme in terms of its effectiveness (imperceptibility and security) and feasibility. Comparison with some existing transform domain steganographic schemes is also presented.     

Image encryption using chaotic coupled map lattices with time-varying delays

In this paper, a novel image encryption scheme using coupled map lattices (CML) with time delay is proposed. By employing discretized tent map to shuffle the positions of image pixels and then using delayed coupled map lattices (DCML) to confuse the relationship between the plain-image and the cipher-image, image encryption algorithms with permutation-diffusion structure are introduced in detail. In the process of generating keystream, the time-varying delay is also embedded in our proposed scheme to enhance the security. Theoretical analysis and computer experiments confirm that the new algorithm possesses high security for practical image encryption.     

An image encryption scheme based on quantum logistic map

The topic of quantum chaos has begun to draw increasing attention in recent years. While a satisfactory definition for it is not settled yet in order to differentiate between its classical counterparts. Dissipative quantum maps can be characterized by sensitive dependence on initial conditions, like classical maps. Considering this property, an implementation of image encryption scheme based on the quantum logistic map is proposed. The security and performance analysis of the proposed image encryption is performed using well-known methods. The results of the reliability analysis are encouraging and it can be concluded that, the proposed scheme is efficient and secure. The results of this study also suggest application of other quantum maps such as quantum standard map and quantum baker map in cryptography and other aspects of security and privacy.     

A new secured transmission scheme based on chaotic synchronization via smooth adaptive unknown-input observers

We present a new scheme for the secured transmission of information based on master–slave synchronization of chaotic systems, using unknown-input observers. Our approach improves upon state-of-the-art schemes by being compatible with information of relatively large amplitude while improving security against intruders through an intricate encryption system. In addition, our approach is robust to channel noise. The main idea is to separate the encryption and synchronization operations by using two cascaded chaotic systems in the transmitter. Technically, the scheme is based on smooth adaptive unknown-input observers; these have the advantage to estimate the (master) states and to reconstruct the unknown inputs simultaneously. The performance of the communication system is illustrated in numerical simulation.     

One-Time Pad as a nonlinear dynamical system

The One-Time Pad (OTP) is the only known unbreakable cipher, proved mathematically by Shannon in 1949. In spite of several practical drawbacks of using the OTP, it continues to be used in quantum cryptography, DNA cryptography and even in classical cryptography when the highest form of security is desired (other popular algorithms like RSA, ECC, AES are not even proven to be computationally secure). In this work, we prove that the OTP encryption and decryption is equivalent to finding the initial condition on a pair of binary maps (Bernoulli shift). The binary map belongs to a family of 1D nonlinear chaotic and ergodic dynamical systems known as Generalized Luröth Series (GLS). Having established these interesting connections, we construct other perfect secrecy systems on the GLS that are equivalent to the One-Time Pad, generalizing for larger alphabets. We further show that OTP encryption is related to Randomized Arithmetic Coding – a scheme for joint compression and encryption.     

A novel chaotic encryption scheme based on arithmetic coding

In this paper, under the combination of arithmetic coding and logistic map, a novel chaotic encryption scheme is presented. The plaintexts are encrypted and compressed by using an arithmetic coder whose mapping intervals are changed irregularly according to a keystream derived from chaotic map and plaintext. Performance and security of the scheme are also studied experimentally and theoretically in detail.     

Hybrid projective synchronization of complex Duffing–Holmes oscillators with application to image encryption

Many works on hybrid projective synchronization (or simply ‘HPS’ for short) of nonlinear real dynamic systems have been performed, while the HPS of chaotic complex systems and its application have not been extensively studied. In this paper, the HPS of complex Duffing–Holmes oscillators with known and unknown parameters is separately investigated via nonlinear control. The adaptive control methods and explicit expressions are derived for controllers and parameters estimation law, which are respectively used to achieve HPS. These expressions on controllers are tested numerically, which are in excellent agreement with theory analysis. The proposed synchronization scheme is applied to image encryption with exclusive or (or simply ‘XOR’ for short). The related security analysis shows the high security of the encryption scheme. Concerning the complex Duffing–Holmes oscillator, we also discuss its chaotic properties via the maximum Lyapunov exponent. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.