A New Hybrid Image Encryption Algorithm Based on 2D-CA, FSM-DNA Rule Generator, and FSBI

Abstract

Image encryption is an efficient and vital way to protect classified and secret images. With the advancement of the processing power of the computer, AES, DES, or chaotic series type just alike image encryption schemes are not as secure as before. Therefore, in this paper, we present a new hybrid image encryption method for protecting secret and imperative images by employing logistic sine system (LSS) together with two-dimensional cellular automata and FSM-based DNA rule generator. The secure hash (SHA-256) algorithm is used to generate a secret key and to compute initial values for the LSS. In our proposed method, there are three stages and each stage has its own rule. After the scrambling process, the first stage is the Feistel structure-based bit inversion (FSBI) to change the pixels’ value. The second stage is 2D-CA with Moore neighborhood structure-based local rules. The third is DNA conversion based on finite-state machine (FSM-DNA) rule generator. The proposed encryption scheme is robust against the well-known attacks, such as statistical attacks, brute force attacks, differential attacks, and pixel correlation attacks, and also possesses strong key sensitivity. The results show that our three-layer hybrid image encryption technique is robust against many well-known attacks and can be applied directly to all types of classified gray-scale images to make them more secure from such cryptography attacks.