Page 5 - 2024-Vol20-Issue2

Received: 1 June 2023 | Revised: 10 August 2023 | Accepted: 13 September 2023

DOI: 10.37917/ijeee.20.2.1 Vol. 20 | Issue 2 | December 2024

Open Access

Iraqi Journal for Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Original Article

A Secure Image Cryptographic Algorithm Based on

Triple Incorporated Ciphering Stages

Sura F. Yousif , Abbas Salman Hameed*, Dheyaa T. Al-Zuhairi
Collage of Engineering, University of Diyala, Diyala, Iraq

Correspondance
*Abbas Salman Hameed
Collage of Engineering, University of Diyala, Diyala, Iraq
Email: abbasfuture@yahoo.com, abbas hameed eng@uodiyala.edu.iq

Abstract
Lately, image encryption has stand out as a highly urgent demand to provide high security for digital images against use
and unauthorized distribution. A lot of existing researches use chaotic systems, symmetric or asymmetric schemes for
image encryption, but cryptosystem based on one encryption technique only, faces many challenges like weak security
and low complexity. Therefore, incorporating two or more different ciphering methods yields a secure and efficient
algorithm to protect image information. In this work, a new image cryptosystem is suggested by joining zigzag scan
technique, RSA algorithm and chaotic systems. These three security factors introduce Triple Incorporated Ciphering
stages system (TIC). Initially, the plaintext image is divided into 8 × 8 non-overlapping blocks, then the odd blocks
are isolated from the even blocks. After that, a new modified zigzag scan in two different directions is adopted for
shuffling pixels in the odd and even blocks. This operation effectively enhances the shuffling degree. Next, the RSA
algorithm is utilized after combining the scrambled blocks in one matrix. Finally, chaotic systems are implemented on
the resultant encrypted matrix to complete the ciphering process. The chaos is implemented in two steps; confusion and
diffusion. Duffing map is exploited in the confusion stage, whereas Lu¨ system is adopted on the shuffled matrix in the
diffusion stage. The simulation results show the superiority of TIC in both security and attacks robustness compared to
other cryptographic algorithms. Therefore, TIC can be exploited in real-time communication systems for secure image
transmission.

Keywords
Cryptography, Image encryption and decryption, Symmetric scheme, Asymmetric scheme, Zigzag scan, RSA
mechanism, Chaotic system, Security analysis.

I. INTRODUCTION that is hard to understand. Generally, cryptosystems are cate-
gorized into two different sorts, symmetric and asymmetric
The security of digital multimedia like audio, video and im- cryptosystems [4, 5]. The symmetric or secret key cryptogra-
age files has become a substantial issue nowadays, especially phy employs only one individual key that is shared between
with the prompt evolution in communication, and network the sender and receiver for secret data encryption and decryp-
multimedia. The protection of digital images became more tion. DES and AES are examples of symmetric ciphers [5, 6].
significant because the transferring of these files throughout Meanwhile, two various keys are employed in the asymmet-
networks increased every day [1–3]. Encryption is one of the ric or public key cryptography. Public key is utilized for the
most common and efficient techniques that is used to assure encryption operation, while private key is dedicated for the
the transmission security over open networks like Internet. decryption operation.
Encryption safeguards the confidential image content from
the adversary or illegal access by transforming the image El-Gamal, DH and RSA cryptographic algorithms are
information from its readable format to ambiguous format examples for asymmetric cryptosystems [5, 6]. The symmet-

This is an open-access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
©2024 The Authors.
Published by Iraqi Journal for Electrical and Electronic Engineering | College of Engineering, University of Basrah.

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