Enhancing Image Security Through Hybrid Integration of Arnold Transform, Henon Map, and Elliptic Curve Cryptography

In this digital era, the multimedia cannot be blindly trusted. Digital media, including images, videos, etc., are prone to cyberattacks that can alter the true meaning of the image. Any alteration in such media, irrespective of its state of existence, like rest or transit, has significant negative consequences. The spread of altered media can have various consequences such as defamation, emotional harm, and financial loss. Strong and efficient encryption is a prominent solution to address this problem. This paper introduces a hybrid digital image encryption model that combines chaotic maps (Arnold's Cat Map and Henon Map) with exclusively OR (XOR)-based scrambling techniques and Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC). The chaotic maps provide high diffusion and confusion, enhancing resistance to brute-force and statistical attacks, while ECC ensures secure, efficient key management suitable for mobile devices and Internet of Things. The efficiency of the cryptosystem was evaluated using various metrics, including information entropy (IE) (7.7475), correlation coefficients (horizontal: 0.0033, vertical: 0.0051, diagonal: -0.0091), number of pixels change rate (NPCR) (99.4123%), and unified average changing intensity (UACI) (49.7735%). These results demonstrate that this layered encryption approach provides strong security with minimal computational cost, making it suitable for high-resolution and real-time image protection.