The exchange of information through images and other multimedia content has grown

exponentially in recent years. This surge has been driven by the widespread use of various
networking platforms such as social media, the affordability of devices like smartphones,
laptops, and HD cameras, and the availability of high-speed internet connections. While
sharing images online has become commonplace, it has also led to an increase in potential
security risks. Therefore, ensuring key security principles, such as confidentiality and
authentication, for the transmission and distribution of sensitive images over public
networks has become critically important. In many real-world applications, images must be
protected from various security threats, including unauthorized modification, copyright
infringement, and unauthorized access or tampering with the image content. Just as with
textual data, numerous techniques have been proposed by researchers to ensure the secure
transmission of images. Images, however, present unique challenges compared to regular
text data. They tend to be large in size, and even a small grayscale image of 256x256 pixels
consists of 65,536 individual pixels. These images typically exhibit high inter-pixel correlation
and are inherently multidimensional. The high data redundancy within an image further
complicates the encryption process. Because of these characteristics, traditional text
encryption methods are often impractical for use with images, requiring the development of
specialized encryption techniques designed to address these challenges.

In the spatial domain, the most commonly used encryption techniques for image protection
are based on pixel permutation or substitution. One of the most widely adopted
permutation-based methods is the use of chaos map theory [1]. A variety of chaotic systems,
such as the logistic map, tent map, and Arnold map [2], have been employed by researchers
for image encryption. Each chaotic system utilizes a complex mapping function that
transforms an input sequence into a pseudo-random sequence [3][4][5][6]. The randomness
and efficiency of this mapping are heavily influenced by the complexity of the mapping
function. Additionally, the output of chaotic systems is highly sensitive to changes in the
system’s initial control parameters. These initial conditions and other control parameters,
which serve as the seeds for the chaos system, are analogous to the secret key used in
traditional cryptosystems. Chaos systems can be applied in various ways to encrypt images,
including:

i) A chaotic system can generate a pseudo-random sequence that can be used as a key in
conventional cryptosystems [7].

ii) The output of a chaotic system can also be used to scramble the pixel positions of the
original image. Repeated iterations of such scrambling can progressively transform the
image into an encrypted version [8].

Researchers have explored a variety of approaches to secure images and other multimedia
data, including watermarking, image steganography, conventional symmetric key encryption
methods like DES, T-DES, and Hill cipher, public key encryption techniques such as RSA and
AES [9-11], chaos theory-based encryption and pixel scrambling techniques, and digital
signature-based methods. Among these, elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) and chaotic maps
have been widely used, both separately and in combination, in recent years.

However, it has been observed that using simple chaotic maps alone for image encryption
can be vulnerable to various security attacks, such as known-plaintext attacks. If the
mapping function is not sufficiently complex, the chaotic behavior becomes predictable and
stabilizes at a smaller key space, weakening the system's security. To address these
vulnerabilities, researchers have often combined chaotic systems with other cryptographic
techniques, such as DNA computing [12], Hill cipher, or ECC, or they have employed multiple
simpler chaotic functions together. These strategies enhance the security of the encryption
system by increasing the key space, range, and dynamism, making the system more resistant
to attacks.

Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) [13], a public key-based cryptosystem (PKE), is one of the
most widely used techniques for achieving encryption, authentication, and key exchange. It
relies on the computational difficulty of the Elliptic Curve Discrete Logarithm Problem
(ECDLP) to ensure security. ECC has gained significant popularity in securing images [14, 15,
16], where image secrecy is typically achieved using ElGamal ECC encryption. ECC-based
digital signature schemes are employed for image authentication. Additionally, ECC-based
key exchange protocols are often integrated with other image encryption techniques, such
as chaotic maps, AES, and DES, to enhance their security and efficiency.

In our proposed technique, we combine both ECC-based key exchange and encryption
methods with a Logistic-Cosine-Sine (LCS) based chaotic system to achieve image secrecy.
This approach aims to provide a balance between simplicity and strong security, leveraging
the advantages of ECC for secure key exchange and encryption, while utilizing the dynamics
of the LCS chaos system for effective image encryption. The integration of these methods
ensures a highly efficient and secure solution for protecting image data.

Kamrani A. and colleagues [17] used the Logistic chaos map in combination with discrete
orthogonal moment functions to encrypt images. They utilized a pre-defined 128-bit key to
generate control parameters for the chaos system. The plaintext image is first represented
using discrete moment transforms, followed by multiple iterations of confusion and diffusion
of pixel values using the logistic chaos map. This method outperforms other techniques such
as Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) in terms of encryption efficiency and security. N.
Sasikaladevi, K. Geetha, and others proposed a three-stage encryption process [18]. In the
first stage, a keyed logistic map is used to generate two chaotic sequences for each color
plane of the image. In the second stage, DNA encoding, scrambling, and rotation are
performed, followed by encryption in the third stage where every pixel pair of the DNA-
encoded image is encrypted using Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC). The three-layered
masking technique enhances resistance to various attacks. M.A.B. Farah et al. [19] also
introduced a multistage encryption approach combining chaos, DNA encoding, and
fractional Fourier transform. The input image undergoes DNA encoding, which is then XORed
with a hashed version of the image. A chaotic matrix is generated using the Lorenz mapping
function, and the result is subjected to fractional Fourier transform three times to produce
the final cipher image. Experimental results demonstrate the scheme’s resistance to
common attacks. Singh and Singh [2] utilized both Logistic and Arnold chaotic mappings to
encrypt the image. The Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDH) key exchange protocol is
employed to establish a secret key between the sender and receiver, which is then used to
generate control parameters for the logistic chaos system (LCS). A chaotic sequence is
generated using the LCS, and after converting this sequence to integer values, it is multiplied
with a shared elliptic curve point to produce a sequence of curve points. These points are
then converted into byte sequences, which are XORed with scrambled pixel values (using
Arnold’s map) to obtain the encrypted image. X. Zhang and A.X. Whang [20] proposed an
image encryption technique using ECC along with a Piecewise Linear Chaotic Map (PWLCM).
The process begins with generating a key by performing SHA-256 hashing on the plaintext
image, which is shared through the Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDH) protocol. The
generated key is used to create a chaotic sequence via PWLCM. The pixels of the image are
then base-converted to large 64-bit integers and encrypted using ECC. The final encrypted
image is obtained by XORing the ECC-encrypted image with the chaotic sequence, efficiently
reducing the number of ECC operations required. Ziad E. Dawahdeh and colleagues [21] used
ECC to establish an initial key between the sender and receiver, which is then used to
generate a self-invertible key matrix. This matrix is employed in the Hill Cipher algorithm to
encrypt the plaintext image. At the decryption stage, the same key matrix is used to recover
the original image, improving the secrecy of the key in the Hill Cipher. In [22], a color image
encryption method based on both AES and ECC was proposed. Initially, a signed ECDH is
used for key exchange, and a sequence of random numbers generated via ECC is used in
combination with AES to encrypt the plaintext image. In [23], SHA-512 is applied to the
plaintext image to generate keys for a chaos system. ElGamal encryption, along with cross-
permutation and DNA sequencing, is then used to generate the cipher image. K. Gupta and
S. Silkari [24] employed a standard map along with rotations of the color planes of the
original image to create a diffusion template. They used a 3D Cat map for color plane
shuffling, and the cipher image is produced by XORing the diffused and shuffled image. ECC-
based key exchange is used to establish the key used for generating the initial parameters of
the chaotic systems. Singh and Singh [25] also employed ElGamal ECC encryption to secure
and authenticate images. Instead of encrypting individual pixels, they grouped pixels into
larger numbers (using base conversion) based on the size of the elliptic curve group. These
consecutive groups are then encrypted as points on the elliptic curve. This approach reduces
the number of ECC multiplications required during the encryption and decryption processes.
S. Bakhtiari, S. Ibrahim, and their team used ECC to selectively encrypt a JPEG image. They
divided the image into 8x8 blocks, applied Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) to each block,
and discarded the higher frequencies. ECC was applied only to the lower frequency (DC)
coefficients of each block to obtain the encrypted image [26]. A. Soleymani and colleagues
[27] proposed a novel technique where pixels are mapped to points on an elliptic curve
before encryption. They created a mapping table where rows correspond to pixel intensity
values (0–255) and columns correspond to points on the elliptic curve. Using this mapping
table, each pixel can be transformed into elliptic curve points for encryption and decryption.
Yadav et al. [28] mapped the pixels of the original image onto a binary group elliptic curve,
encoding each point as an exponent of the generator point. The resulting points were then
subjected to ElGamal encryption, and the cipher image was generated by decoding the
points back to the pixel domain. Gupta and Silkari [24] also utilized the Koblitz mapping
technique, where each pixel intensity (m) of a binary image is transformed onto a curve
point (x_p, y_p). The details of this transformation and encryption process help further
enhance the security and efficiency of the encryption system. These methods demonstrate
the wide range of techniques combining chaotic systems, ECC, and other cryptographic
algorithms to secure image data, with improvements in both security and computational
efficiency.