Medical image encryption algorithm based on hyper‐chaotic system and DNA coding

AbstractWith the international development of the medical service informatisation, medical information sharing has become the key standard to measure the degree of medical informatisation. In this process, it is important to ensure the security of patients' medical information such as patients' records, examination reports, images and so on. In this article, an image encryption scheme based on Secure Hash Algorithm 3 (SHA‐3), DNA coding and high dimensional chaos system is proposed to promote the security level of medical images in information sharing processes such as over the network. First, SHA‐3 algorithm is used to calculate the hash value of the input image, and the result is taken as the initial value of the hyper‐chaotic system. Second, the intensity value of the input image is converted into a serial binary digital stream. Third, the pseudo‐random sequence generated by a 4‐dimensional hyper‐chaotic system is used to perturb the bit stream globally so as to achieve the purpose of hiding the effective information of the input image. During the operation of hyper‐chaotic sequence and DNA sequence, algebraic and complementary operations are performed on DNA encoding values to enhance encryption performance. Finally, simulations have been applied on an open‐source medical image database, and the results demonstrate obvious encryption effectiveness and high security level of the proposed encryption algorithm in the robustness of noise and clipping attacks.