Abstract
Recently, diagnosing diseases using medical images became crucial. As these images are transmitted through the network, they need a high level of protection. If the data in these images are liable for unauthorized usage, this may lead to severe problems. There are different methods for securing images. One of the most efficient techniques for securing medical images is encryption. Confusion and diffusion are the two main steps used in encryption algorithms. This paper presents a new encryption algorithm for encrypting both grey and color medical images. A new image splitting technique based on image blocks introduced. Then, the image blocks scrambled using a zigzag pattern, rotation, and random permutation. Then, a chaotic logistic map generates a key to diffuse the scrambled image. The efficiency of our proposed method in encrypting medical images is evaluated using security analysis and time complexity. The security is tested in entropy, histogram differential attacks, correlation coefficient, PSNR, keyspace, and sensitivity. The achieved results show a high-performance security level reached by successful encryption of both grey and color medical images. A comparison with various encryption methods is performed. The proposed encryption algorithm outperformed the recent existing encryption methods in encrypting medical images.
Highlights
With the rapid development in medical device technology, it became common to diagnose various diseases using medical images
Securing digital images could be achieved by using image steganography [1,2], image watermarking [3,4,5], and image encryption [6,7,8]
This paper introduced a new algorithm for encrypting medical images based on image blocks and chaos
Summary
With the rapid development in medical device technology, it became common to diagnose various diseases using medical images. Safe transmission of medical images requires confidentiality, integrity, and authentication. Unauthorized usage of such images may lead to loss of privacy of patients' data. When these images are liable for any little change, it may result in an incorrect diagnosis that could threaten patients' lives. Securing digital images could be achieved by using image steganography [1,2], image watermarking [3,4,5], and image encryption [6,7,8]. Encryption is the most straightforward and most efficient method to ensure medical image security via converting the plain image into an unreadable one using a secret key. Without having that secret key, nobody can restore the plain image. Image encryption depends on two major operations: confusion and diffusion
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