Diffusion and encryption of digital image using genetic algorithm

Abstract

The security level of any symmetric key algorithm is directly proportional to its execution time. The algorithm will be more secured if the number of iteration is increase. Soft computing methods are trying to reduce time complexity without compromise the security level. In this paper, an image has been encrypted by number of steps. At first, a key set has been developed based on 16 arbitrary characters and a large number. The image has been diffused in the next step. The key set and diffused image have been computed by genetic algorithm. Here, ring crossover and order changing mutation operator is used in genetic algorithm. The encrypted image is constructed based on logical operation between the diffused image and key. The effectiveness of the algorithm has been tested by number of statistical tests. Finally, a comparative study has been made between our proposed algorithm and some other algorithms. It has been observed that the proposed algorithm has given better result.