Chaos-driven design of highly nonlinear S-boxes for secure and efficient lightweight image encryption

Area of Science:

• Cryptography
• Applied Mathematics
• Computer Science

Background:

• Substitution boxes (S-boxes) are crucial nonlinear components in symmetric ciphers, providing confusion and resistance to cryptanalysis.
• Lightweight encryption (LWE) systems require high security with minimal computational overhead.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose chaos-driven constructions of highly nonlinear S-boxes for LWE systems.
• To evaluate the cryptographic strength and practical applicability of these novel S-boxes.

Main Methods:

• Utilized permutations of the logistic map to generate bijective and statistically randomized S-box patterns.
• Assessed S-box cryptographic strength using standard metrics: Nonlinearity (NL), Strict Avalanche Criteria (SAC), Bit Independence Criteria (BIC), Balancedness, Differential Approximation Probability (DAP), and Linear Approximation Probability (LAP).
• Integrated the proposed S-box into an image encryption scheme for practical evaluation.

Main Results:

• Achieved competitive performance with existing S-boxes, showing average nonlinearity of 112.75 and SAC/BIC values near ideal thresholds.
• Demonstrated strong resistance to statistical and differential attacks in an image encryption scheme, with near-ideal entropy and negligible pixel correlation.
• Showcased enhanced computational efficiency and throughput by achieving comparable security in fewer rounds than traditional methods.

Conclusions:

• The proposed chaos-driven S-boxes offer a robust and efficient solution for lightweight encryption.
• The S-boxes are suitable for resource-constrained multimedia security applications requiring real-time performance.
• This approach provides a strong foundation for developing secure and efficient cryptographic primitives.