Novel hyper chaotic color image encryption based on pixel and bit level scrambling with diffusion

Abstract

In this paper, a novel method for symmetric image encryption using Lorenz chaotic system is proposed. The main operations performed in the proposed system are keystream generation, permutation, and diffusion. In the permutation phase, both pixel-level and bit-level scrambling are performed to achieve the double scrambling property. The pixel-level scrambling is implemented by a novel approach using two different keystreams. Also, the bit-level scrambling is realized with a novel approach using cyclic shift operation and a keystream. Thus, the double scrambling ensures higher security in the permutation process. The images are encrypted by an enhanced diffusion process using another keystream. The permutation and diffusion processes use different keystreams generated from the Lorenz system with chaotic behavior. A novel method is adopted for the keystream generation phase. The security of the proposed cryptosystem has been assessed by various evaluation metrics like sensitivity analysis on key and cipher images, information entropy analysis, occlusion attack, and diverse statistical explorations such as correlation and histogram analyses. The experimental results show the supremacy and better performance of the proposed cryptosystem compared to several state-of-the-art techniques.