A variable dimensional chaotic map-based medical image encryption algorithm with multi-mode

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine or non-face-to-face medicine has increased significantly. In practice, various types of medical images are essential to achieve effective telemedicine. Medical image encryption algorithms play an irreplaceable role in the fast and secure transmission and storage of these medical images. However, most of the existing medical image encryption algorithms are full encryption algorithms, which are inefficient and time-consuming, so they are not suitable for emergency medical scenarios. To improve the efficiency of encryption, a small number of works have focused on partial or selective encryption algorithms for medical images, in which different levels of encryption strategies were adopted for different information content regions of medical images. However, these encryption algorithms have inadequate security more or less. In this paper, based on the Logistic map, we designed an improved variable dimension map. Then, an encryption algorithm for medical images was proposed based on it. This algorithm has two modes: (1) full encryption mode and (2) semi-full encryption mode, which can better adapt to different medical scenarios, respectively. In full encryption mode, all pixels of medical images are encrypted by using the confusion-diffusion structure. In semi-full encryption mode, the region of interest of medical images is extracted. The confusion was first adopted to encrypt the region of interest, and then, the diffusion was adopted to encrypt the entire image. In addition, no matter which encryption mode is used, the algorithm provides the function of medical image integrity verification. The proposed algorithm was simulated and analyzed to evaluate its effectiveness. The results show that in semi-full encryption mode, the algorithm has good security performance and lower time consumption; while in full encryption mode, the algorithm has better security performance and is acceptable in time.