Securing Medical Images Using Chaotic Map Encryption and LSB Steganography

Abstract

Secure image transfer is a difficult topic in the age of communication technology because millions of people utilize and share images online for personal and professional reasons. Encryption algorithms, such as cipher images, help achieve secure transfer through networks. Despite attackers having decryption keys, they cannot retrieve the original image. To ensure integrity assurance, prevent changes to medical images that could lead to a misdiagnosis, transmit patient medical records in a private and secure manner, and prevent falling victim to cyberattacks, a high-performance, effective method of encrypting medical images must be developed. Encrypting medical images is common in telemedicine, making secure image transfer essential. The medical dataset includes personal data about the health of a patient. All essential information, including medical images, is now kept on picture and communication servers because of the growing interest in inpatient records across the world. In this study, we presented a unique approach to medical picture encryption that combines the Triple data encryption algorithm (3DES) and advanced encryption standard (AES) methods with three chaotic maps (Logistic, Arnold CAT, and Baker). The BAT optimization algorithm is also used to accomplish the task of key generation. Finally, the Least Significant Bit (LBS) is used to hide encrypted medical images before sending them to the server by TCP/IP protocol. The experiments yielded promising results in entropy of 5.92, PSNR of 0.99, and MSE 0.0001.