Use of elliptic curve cryptography for multimedia encryption

Abstract

The unique characteristics of the elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) such as the small key size, fast computations and bandwidth saving make its use attractive for multimedia encryption. In this study, the ECC is used to perform encryption along with multimedia compression, and two ECC-based encryption algorithms are introduced and applied before and during compression. The first algorithm performs selective encryption on the transform coefficients during compression, whereas the second algorithm achieves perceptual encryption based on selective bit-plane encryption before compression. The results of applying ECC to multimedia encryption are presented and analysed with respect to the requirements of multimedia encryption: the encryption efficiency, compression efficiency, codec compliance and security level. It is shown that ECC is highly efficient and does not affect the compression efficiency, and accordingly can meet the multimedia encryption requirements. © The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2013.