Multiple image encryption techniques: Strategies, challenges, and potential future directions

Efficient image encryption techniques are crucial for protecting digital content in multimedia applications. With the increasing generation and usage of images daily, multiple image encryption (MIE) has emerged as a vital research area. This paper provides a comprehensive survey of MIE approaches, categorizing them based on strategies such as chaos-based systems, transform domains, permutation-substitution, hybrid methods, quantum techniques, and AI-based approaches. We examine the performance metrics used to evaluate these strategies, focusing on their computational efficiency and suitability for diverse applications. The survey introduces the concept of image fusion to create 2D augmented and 3D stacked images for MIE and proposes a novel classification based on these representations. It discusses the challenges of each approach and presents the state of MIE research, highlighting potential future directions. This work serves as a valuable guide for researchers aiming to develop secure, efficient, and adaptable multiple-image encryption solutions.