Color image ROI encryption algorithm based on a novel 4D hyperchaotic system

Abstract The significance of safeguarding the security of image information has escalated significantly, owing to the exponential proliferation of digital images containing sensitive information being disseminated on the Internet. In this paper, we first propose a novel 4D hyperchaotic system and design a new image encryption algorithm in conjunction with the hyperchaotic system. The algorithm uses a split random swap permutation method to permute the image and combines the S-box to diffuse the image. To improve the diffusivity of this encryption algorithm, a cross-random diffusion method is designed to diffuse the image again. Then, we propose a region of interest (ROI) encryption scheme for images. This scheme can automatically identify irregular privacy targets in images and encrypt them. To ensure the security of the region of interest location information during transmission, the scheme compresses the location information of the privacy target using a run-length encoding technique and then embeds the compressed data into the ciphertext image using reversible steganography based on histogram shift. The experimental results and security analysis unequivocally demonstrate that the image encryption algorithm proposed in this paper exhibits robust resistance against a wide array of attacks, thereby ensuring a high level of security. Additionally, the devised image ROI encryption scheme effectively safeguards diverse privacy targets.