PIXEL BIT SWAPPING-BASED IMAGE ENCRYPTION USING A 4D UNIFIED HYPER-CHAOTIC FRAMEWORK

Abstract

Digital images have assumed a lot of importance in the current era of time. So, their safety from the unauthorized access is of prime importance. In order to boost the security effects, this research study has made an endeavor to write a novel image encryption algorithm based on the dynamically spawned matrices and the swapping of bits within the pixels’ data. First of all, a 2D lattice of random numbers is constructed from the streams of the chaotic map. Two square matrices are dynamically generated within the confines of the 2D lattice. Then, the determinants of these matrices are calculated. Further, these calculated determinants are translated to get the required range of numbers. These values help in selecting one pixel from the given plaintext image. The same operation has been repeated to select the second pixel from the given plaintext image but by flipping the streams of random numbers. Two bits have been chosen randomly from these selected two pixels of the given image. These selected bits are swapped with each other. This operation has been repeated a number of times to embed the required confusion effects in the input image. Diffusion effects have been introduced by carrying out the XoR operation between the mask image and the confused image. To spawn the streams of random numbers, 4D unified hyperchaotic map has been sparked by giving the initial values. Machine experiments and the security evaluation depict that the suggested cipher can defy the multifarious attacks possibly launched by the cryptanalytic savvy. We assert that this image cipher can be installed in some real world setting to reap its inherent benefits.