Enhanced Semantic Visual Cryptography with AI-driven error reduction for improved two-dimensional image quality and security

Abstract

Abstract Visual Cryptography (VC) has emerged as a vital technique in the information security domain, with the fundamental purpose of securing 2-Dimensional (2D) image content through encryption and facilitating secure communication. While traditional VC has been instrumental in safeguarding data, it often falls short in maintaining image quality and semantic accuracy upon reconstruction. To address these limitations, this research encompasses the development of an Enhanced Semantic VC (ESVC) model, which aims to refine the encryption process while ensuring the semantic integrity of the images. The ESVC model introduces a new approach that merges VC with artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance 2D image encryption and decryption. The novel aspect of this research lies in the integration of AI-driven reinforcement learning (RL) to increase the quality of the 2D image by measuring the errors between the original secret image and the reconstructed image. This innovative framework is tailored for the secure transmission of 2D grayscale images, ensuring the preservation of semantic integrity while measuring and minimizing image quality loss. By integrating RL algorithms with a measurement of error reduction protocol, the model promises robust encryption capabilities with enhanced resilience against a plethora of cyber threats, thereby elevating the standard for secure image communication. Empirical evaluation of the ESVC model yields promising results, with the Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) of reconstructed images achieving impressive values between +39 and +42 decibels (dB). These findings underscore the ESVC model’s capability to produce high-fidelity decrypted images, significantly surpassing traditional VC methods in both security and image quality. The research findings illuminate the potential of merging AI with VC to achieve a harmonious balance between computational efficiency and encryption strength, marking a significant advancement in the domain of visual data protection.