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 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.     

A method for image encryption based on fractional-order hyperchaotic systems

By using sequences generated from fractional-order hyperchaotic systems, a color image encryption scheme is investigated. Firstly, a plain image, which is known to users in advance, is chosen as a secret key to confuse the original image. Then, the confused image is encrypted by the sequences generated from the fractional-order hyperchaotic systems. With this simple encryption method, we can get an encrypted image that is fully scrambled and diused. For chaos-based image cryptosystems, this encryption scheme enhances the security and improves the eectiveness. Furthermore, the cryptosystem resists the dierential attack. Experiments show that the algorithm is suitable for image encryption, and some statistical tests are provided to show the high security in the end     

Cryptography using multiple one-dimensional chaotic maps

Recently, Pareek et al. [Phys. Lett. A 309 (2003) 75] have developed a symmetric key block cipher algorithm using a one-dimensional chaotic map. In this paper, we propose a symmetric key block cipher algorithm in which multiple one-dimensional chaotic maps are used instead of a one-dimensional chaotic map. However, we also use an external secret key of variable length (maximum 128-bits) as used by Pareek et al. In the present cryptosystem, plaintext is divided into groups of variable length (i.e. number of blocks in each group is different) and these are encrypted sequentially by using randomly chosen chaotic map from a set of chaotic maps. For block-by-block encryption of variable length group, number of iterations and initial condition for the chaotic maps depend on the randomly chosen session key and encryption of previous block of plaintext, respectively. The whole process of encryption/decryption is governed by two dynamic tables, which are updated time to time during the encryption/decryption process. Simulation results show that the proposed cryptosystem requires less time to encrypt the plaintext as compared to the existing chaotic cryptosystems and further produces the ciphertext having flat distribution of same size as the plaintext.     

A modified method of a class of recently presented cryptosystems

In this paper, a modified method of a class of recently proposed cryptosystems is presented. As a remedy, the piecewise linear chaotic map (PLCM) which has a uniform distribution is adopted in our method. The experimental results demonstrate that the application of PLCM can not only ensure the feasibility but also promote the encryption speed of these cryptosystems. Moreover, a new design of dynamical look-up table is used as an efficient way to ensure the security of our cryptosystem.     

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.     

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.     

An image encryption scheme using reverse 2-dimensional chaotic map and dependent diffusion

In recent years, a variety of chaos-based image cryptosystems have been studied. Most of them adopt the traditional confusion–diffusion architecture, which is considered insecure upon chosen/known plain-image attacks. In this paper, a nonlinear traverse on the plain-image using dependent diffusion and reverse cat map is proposed to replace the traditional linear traverse performed in the confusion phase. Two cryptosystems are designed and are implemented by software means. Simulation results and numerical analysis justify their high efficiency and sufficient strength.     

A block cipher with dynamic S-boxes based on tent map

In this paper, a block encryption scheme based on dynamic substitution boxes (S-boxes) is proposed. Firstly, the difference trait of the tent map is analyzed. Then, a method for generating S-boxes based on iterating the tent map is presented. The plaintexts are divided into blocks and encrypted with different S-boxes. The cipher blocks are obtained by 32 rounds of substitution and left cyclic shift. To improve the security of the cryptosystem, a cipher feedback is used to change the state value of the tent map, which makes the S-boxes relate to the plaintext and enhances the confusion and diffusion properties of the cryptosystem. Since dynamic S-boxes are used in the encryption, the cryptosystem does not suffer from the problem of fixed structure block ciphers. Theoretical and experimental results indicate that the cryptosystem has high security and is suitable for secure communications.     

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.     

A fast image encryption and authentication scheme based on chaotic maps

In recent years, a variety of chaos-based image cryptosystems have been proposed. The key used for encryption/decryption is usually independent of the plain-image. To achieve a satisfactory level of security, at least two overall rounds of the substitution-diffusion process are required so that a change in any pixels of the plain-image spreads over the whole cipher-image. Moreover, the receiver is not able to determine whether the decrypted image is exactly the one sent. In this paper, a fast image encryption and authentication scheme is proposed. In particular, a keyed hash function is introduced to generate a 128-bit hash value from both the plain-image and the secret hash keys. The hash value plays the role of the key for encryption and decryption while the secret hash keys are used to authenticate the decrypted image. Simulation results show that satisfactory security performance is achieved in only one overall round. The speed efficiency is thus improved.     

Extended substitution–diffusion based image cipher using chaotic standard map

This paper proposes an extended substitution–diffusion based image cipher using chaotic standard map [1] and linear feedback shift register to overcome the weakness of previous technique by adding nonlinearity. The first stage consists of row and column rotation and permutation which is controlled by the pseudo-random sequences which is generated by standard chaotic map and linear feedback shift register, second stage further diffusion and confusion is obtained in the horizontal and vertical pixels by mixing the properties of the horizontally and vertically adjacent pixels, respectively, with the help of chaotic standard map. The number of rounds in both stage are controlled by combination of pseudo-random sequence and original image. The performance is evaluated from various types of analysis such as entropy analysis, difference analysis, statistical analysis, key sensitivity analysis, key space analysis and speed analysis. The experimental results illustrate that performance of this is highly secured and fast.     

A new compound mode of confusion and diffusion for block encryption of image based on chaos

A block encryption for image using combination of confusion and diffusion is proposed in this paper. In this encryption, a new compound mode is proposed. Baker map is used to generate a pseudo-random sequence, and several one-dimension chaotic maps are dynamically selected to encrypt blocks of image, in the order of the pseudo-random sequence generated by Baker map. Different with other combined encryptions, the algorithm of this encryption does not confusion original image directly, but generate a pseudo-random, which is used as a route for diffusion, combines pixels to block randomly and arrays them. When diffusion is executing, for mutual diffusion of pixels, the confusion is working by the pseudo-random order of route, the combination is deep-seated.     

A new chaotic cryptosystem

Based on the study of some previously proposed chaotic encryption algorithms, we found that it is dangerous to mix chaotic state or iteration number of the chaotic system with ciphertext. In this paper, a new chaotic cryptosystem is proposed. Instead of simply mixing the chaotic signal of the proposed chaotic cryptosystem with the ciphertext, a noise-like variable is utilized to govern the encryption and decryption processes. This adds statistical sense to the new cryptosystem. Numerical simulations show that the new cryptosystem is practical whenever efficiency, ciphertext length or security is concerned.     

A new color image cryptosystem via hyperchaos synchronization

This paper proposes a novel color image cryptosystem based on synchronization of two different six-dimensional hyperchaotic systems. In the transmitter end, we apply the drive system to generate the diffusion matrices and scrambling ones, which are used to change the image pixel value and position, respectively. Thus the ciphered image is obtained. In the receiver, synchronization of two nonidentical hyperchaotic systems can be achieved by designing the appropriate controllers. The response system is employed to yield the corresponding diffusion matrices and scrambling ones using the same generation method in the encryption algorithm. Then the cipher-image can be decrypted by the decryption algorithm, which is similar to that of the encryption process but in the reversed order. The experimental results show that the presented image cryptosystem has high security and can resist noise and crop attacks.     

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.     

An image encryption scheme with a pseudorandom permutation based on chaotic maps

Many research efforts for image encryption schemes have elaborated for designing nonlinear functions since security of these schemes closely depends on inherent characteristics of nonlinear functions. It is commonly believed that a chaotic map can be used as a good candidate of a nonlinear component for image encryption schemes. We propose a new image encryption algorithm using a large pseudorandom permutation which is combinatorially generated from small permutation matrices based on chaotic maps. The random-like nature of chaos is effectively spread into encrypted images by using the permutation matrix. The experimental results show that the proposed encryption scheme provides comparable security with that of the conventional image encryption schemes based on Baker map or Logistic map.     

Distributed source coding using chaos-based cryptosystem

A distributed source coding scheme is proposed by incorporating a chaos-based cryptosystem in the Slepian–Wolf coding. The punctured codeword generated by the chaos-based cryptosystem results in ambiguity at the decoder side. This ambiguity can be removed by the maximum a posteriori decoding with the help of side information. In this way, encryption and source coding are performed simultaneously. This leads to a simple encoder structure with low implementation complexity. Simulation results show that the encoder complexity is lower than that of existing distributed source coding schemes. Moreover, at small block size, the proposed scheme has a performance comparable to existing distributed source coding schemes.     

Cycle detection for secure chaos-based encryption

Digital generators of chaos present several limitations that affect the vulnerability of chaotic encryption systems, among the most important are degraded probability distribution and short cycle lengths. Periodic perturbations of the chaotic parameter and/or state variable have been employed to deal with these limitations, although blindfold; the periodicity of the perturbation is set up during the initialization process without reference to the cycle length of the chaotic map under consideration. For best results, the periodicity of the perturbation must be close to the actual cycle length. So far, it is analytically impossible and numerically impractical (for real-time applications) to have a priori information of the cycle length. In this work we propose an on-the-fly detection and quantification of the chaotic cycle length to eliminate short cycles (which make cryptosystems vulnerable to attacks) and maximize the strength of long cycles by perturbing the system at the right time. Our proposal consists of two algorithms: (1) Unrestricted Search Algorithm (USA), which tracks down the cycle without any assumption or restriction on the digital chaotic trajectory, and (2) Ergodic Search Algorithm (ESA), which assumes ergodic trajectories to reduce the cycle search space, without this being a necessary requirement for the analyzed trajectory. USA and ESA are intended to increase the security of chaotic encryption systems without compromising their performance. Furthermore, they can be employed for the development of new chaotic-map independent encryption systems, where a full knowledge of the map is not required.