Abstract

This paper presents a bit level pixel by pixel chaotic image encryption scheme with a permutation–diffusion structure. In this scheme, a Neural Network Like Structure (NNLS) is proposed to do the diffusion efficiently. The plain image, split into 16 blocks is permuted by the keys from the key generator. Each key will produce different permutation order (PO) generated using a chaotic map. After permutation, the pixels of the permuted image is converted into bits and given to the proposed NNLS, where the diffusion takes place. The bit by bit diffusion performed by NNLS on the pixels will give more randomness to the cipher image. The performance of the NNLS is contingent upon sensitivity of the keys from the key generator. The test results and analyses performed using several security standards shows that the proposed scheme is more secure, reliable and can be used for real time image encryption.