Novel grayscale image encryption based on 4D fractional-order hyperchaotic system, 2D Henon map and knight tour algorithm

Abstract

With the increasing frequency of data exchange, the security of transmitted information, especially images, has become paramount. This paper proposes a novel algorithm for encrypting grayscale images of any dimension by using a proposed fractional-order (FO) 4D hyperchaotic system, 2D Henon chaotic map permutation, and the knight tour algorithm. Initially, chaotic sequences are generated by utilizing the proposed FO 4D hyperchaotic system, which are later employed to rearrange and shuffle the entire image pixels to bolster the efficacy of image encryption. To introduce an additional layer of diffusion, 2D Henon chaotic map permutation is used. Furthermore, the knight tour algorithm is applied by starting from a chosen point and executing specified rounds on the scrambled image to increase the encryption’s robustness. The resultant image encryption algorithm undergoes thorough testing and evaluation. It exhibits high sensitivity to the encryption key and boasts a larger key space, rendering it more resistant to brute-force attacks. The proposed algorithm demonstrates an approximate correlation of 0 between adjacent pixels. Further, encryption of a grayscale image of size 256 × 256 takes approximately 0.4 seconds, rendering it more suitable for cryptographic purposes.