Vigenere and genetic cross-over acting at the restricted ASCII code level for color image encryption

In the current high-tech era, the growing popularity of e-healthcare has heightened the attention focused on data security against cyber-attacks. As digital medical images are transported over the public network, an intermediate degree of protection must be in place. One major technique is the implementation of encryption to safeguard medical images. This article recommends a new medical image encryption technology. This algorithm began with a simple application of advanced Vigenere technology, followed by the implementation of a deeply adapted genetic operator for color image encryption, with the intention of better integrating into the medical image encryption security sector. After vectorization of the original image, the first round of Vigenere control by two chaotic substitution tables attached to highly modified replacement functions is applied. The output vector is encoded in restricted ASCII code in order to obtain a genetic hybridization suitable for encryption of medical and color images. A strong chaining will be applied between the encrypted block and the following clear block in order to increase the impact of the avalanche effect and to protect the system against any differential attack. Simulations carried out on a large volume of images of different sizes and formats ensure that our approach is not exposed to known attacks. HIGHLIGHTS: The two rounds of our algorithm represent a large modification of a classical and a genetic operator. The main new features are ✓ First round   ○ Vigenere upgrade   ○ Selected simulations from the primary round ✓ Switching to reduced ASCII code   ○ Two cross-over tables building process   ○ Chaotic operation ASCII table   ○ Output vector encryption     ■ Detailed simulation study     ■ Benchmarking with other recent algorithms.