An image encryption scheme using nonlinear inter-pixel computing and swapping based permutation approach

Recently, intrinsic image features in bit-level (e.g., higher bit-planes carry more information than lower bit-planes) have been widely accepted for building bit-level image cryptosystems. Higher bit-planes are generally handled with enhanced encryption, whereas light attention is paid to lower ones. However, the existing achievements on bit-level image features are solely based on the analyses of standard test images, and they do not hold for some special images, such as medical images. When ciphering these images, such cryptosystems may leak the important information of lower bit-planes, and other inadaptability also exists. In this paper, we firstly give out the inapplicability of the existing bit-level achievements, and then a novel chaos-based image encryption scheme using nonlinear inter-pixel computing and swapping based permutation approach is presented. Simulations and extensive security analyses demonstrate the high level of security for practical secret applications. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.