Improved Image Encryption for Real-Time Application over Wireless Communication Networks using Hybrid Cryptography Technique

Indonesian Journal of Electrical Engineering and Informatics (IJEEI)
Vol. 4, No. 4, December 2016, pp. 307~318
ISSN: 2089-3272, DOI: 10.11591/ijeei.v4i4.241  307
Received August 24, 2016; Revised October 16, 2016; Accepted November 20, 2016
Improved Image Encryption for Application over
Wireless Communication Networks using Hybrid
Cryptography Technique
Adedeji Kazeem B*, Ponnle Akinlolu A
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Federal University of Technology, Akure,
Ondo State, Nigeria.
e-mail: kezman0474@yahoo.com*, akinloluponnle@yahoo.co.uk
Abstract
Advances in communication networks have enabled organization to send confidential data such
as digital images over wireless networks. However, the broadcast nature of wireless communication
channel has made it vulnerable to attack from eavesdroppers. We have developed a hybrid cryptography
technique, and we present its application to digital images as a means of improving the security of digital
image for transmission over wireless communication networks. The hybrid technique uses a combination
of a symmetric (Data Encryption Standard) and asymmetric (Rivest Shamir Adleman) cryptographic
algorithms to secure data to be transmitted between different nodes of a wireless network. Three different
image samples of type jpeg, png and jpg were tested using this technique. The results obtained showed
that the hybrid system encrypt the images with minimal simulation time, and high throughput. More
importantly, there is no relation or information between the original images and their encrypted form,
according to Shannon’s definition of perfect security, thereby making the system much more secure.
Keywords: cryptography, digital image, eavesdropper, security, wireless networks
1. Introduction
A large amount of digital data is being sent over wireless communication channels due
to rapid growth of technology in data communication. A wireless network is a collection of nodes
organized into a cooperative network. The transfer of digital information over a wireless network
has opened opportunities for collecting/sharing large data [1]. These transmitted digital
information are confidential or private and therefore demands for security mechanisms to
provide required protection. Security has been a major challenge for data transmission over
wireless networks for the past few years. This is due to the open nature of wireless channel,
making it possible for adversaries or eavesdropper who is assumed to have adequate
computing power and resources to decode any message transmitted over a wireless network.
For secured communications between the two nodes, three main security goals must be
achieved [2]. These are confidentiality/secrecy, data integrity and service availability.
Confidentiality ensures that the data to be transmitted is prevented from unauthorized users. It
means that only the authenticated recipients are able to interpret the message (data) content
and no one else. Data integrity prevent it from undergoing any form of alteration during
transmission between the two ends of the nodes (sender and receiver), while service availability
ensures that it is available to its intended users [3, 4].
Digital images in many applications are confidential data and their encryption is being
applied in internet communication, multimedia systems, tele-medicine and military
communication to mention a few [5-7]. Most government parastatals, military intelligence,
forensic departments, financial institutions, hospitals and private business all deal with
confidential messages. For example, hospitals deal with information about their patients,
geographical areas in forensic departments, enemy positions in military intelligence, and
product financial status in case of financial institutions. During their transmission especially over
the internet, the content can be accessed illegally and misused by unauthorized parties [8].
These information needs to be protected from an unauthorized person when being transferred
over wireless communication networks.
There are three different ways to protect digital image from unauthorized use or access.
These are cryptography, steganography and watermarking [9]. Steganography serves to hide

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IJEEI Vol. 4, No. 4, December 2016 : 307 – 318
308
secret messages in other messages or graphics. Generally the sender embeds the secret
message in an innocuous written message on the same piece of paper [10, 11]. More recently,
steganography involves hiding secret messages in graphic images by replacing the least
significant bit of each byte of the image with the bits of the message. Watermarking is related to
steganography in the sense that it tries to hide a message related to the actual content of the
digital signal, but in steganography, the digital signal has no relation to the message and merely
used as a cover to hide its existence [12].
Cryptography schemes are widely used among these techniques and have been
applied for protection of digital data in the past few years. Cryptography is an algorithmic
process of converting a plain data to a cipher text, a form that is unreadable by an unauthorized
person (eavesdropper) [13-14]. This technique is usually achieved with the use of an encryption
key to alter the message based on the key bits resulting in a cipher text (encrypted data) as
given in equation (1)
 ,C E K P (1)
In equation (1), C is the encrypted data (cipher text), E(.) is the encryption function, K is the
encryption key and P is the original data to encrypt. The encryption algorithm operates on the
plain data with the use of an encryption key to obtain the cipher text. The decryption process is
the reverse of the encryption. According to Shannon’s definition for perfect security, the result
of encryption of the message (cipher text) must not provide any information on the original text
(plain text) [15, 16]. Cryptography algorithms are of three types namely; symmetric key
cryptography (SKC) or private key cryptography, asymmetric key cryptography (AKC) or public
key cryptography, and hash functions [8, 17]. Symmetric key cryptography technique which
provides a faster means of encrypting and decrypting data, uses a single key for both encryption
and decryption process [8, 18]. The problem with this type of system is the key management.
Since it uses one key for both encryption and decryption, if the key get exposed or known by an
eavesdropper, the whole system collapse and the eavesdropper will be able to decode any
message sent from the source node to the receiver’s node. Some examples of this type of
system are Data Encryption Standard (DES), Rivest Cipher4 (RC4), Advanced Encryption
Standard (AES), Blowfish Algorithm, Twofish Algorithm, International Data Encryption Algorithm
(IDEA) and Secure and Fast Encryption Routine (SAFER) [19, 20].
The problem of key management in symmetric key cryptography technique was
overcome in asymmetric key cryptography technique by employing two keys for encryption and
decryption process. In this system, one key called the secret key is used for encryption while the
other key called the public key is used for decryption [21]. By using one key for encryption and
another key for decryption, the problem of key management was overcome. Having the
knowledge of one key is not sufficient to decode the message [21]. However, this type of system
is very slow and computational more demanding than the SKC [22]. Some examples of this type
of systems includes; Rivest Shamir Adleman (RSA) algorithm, Elgama, Deffie-Hellman, Digital
Signature Algorithm [23]. The harsh function such as message digest (MD), secure harsh
functions (SHA-1 and SHA-2) uses a mathematical transformation to encrypt information [24].
More recently, image encryption has been studied in [8, 25-29] to meet the demand for
real-time applications over wireless communication networks. More also, it was reported in [8]
that protecting images is an ethical and legal requirement. Different work in [9, 14, 28-30] have
been conducted to secure and improve security of digital images over a wireless communication
channel. Some authors [6, 29, 30] achieved encryption using a chaotic system, while others [31]
use the same symmetric and asymmetric algorithms or a combination of both to improve
security in wireless communication network.
With advancement in technology, wireless communication channel will become more
flexible in terms of sending large amount of confidential data across it. This advancement in
technology also translates to development of sophisticated deciphering algorithm by
eavesdroppers prompting for the need to improve security of data before sending over a
wireless sensor network. The objective of this work is to improve the security of digital image
transmission by employing a hybrid cryptographic technique that we developed. This technique
combines the speed of the symmetric cryptography technique and the key management of the
asymmetric cryptography technique.

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Improved Image Encryption for Application over Wireless … (Adedeji Kazeem B)
309
2. Research Method
The developed hybrid technique uses a combination of data encryption standard (DES)
and Rivest Shamir Adleman (RSA) algorithms.
2.1. DES Encryption and Decryption Process
The DES uses a 56 bit key (an equivalent of 8 byte) to encrypt the digital image. There
are three main stages involved in the process of encrypting and decrypting the digital image
using this technique [31, 32]. These stages include; an initial permutation on the word length of
the image pixel, a 16 rounds of complex key dependent computations where each of the word
length is divided into two halves (left L and right R) from the initial permutation of the image and
is combined with the key bits. The sixteen round of key dependent operation is given the
relation shown in equation (2)
 
1
1 1,
i i
i i i i
L R
R L f R K

 
 

  
for 161 i (2)
In equation (2), K is the DES key and i depicts the number of rounds (16 rounds in this
case). After the sixteen rounds, the left and right halves were combined after which a final
permutation is applied to obtain the encrypted digital image. For decryption, the encryption
process is reversed to retrieve the original image.
2.2. RSA Encryption and Decryption Process
RSA encryption scheme uses prime numbers and base its security in the difficulty
involved in factorizing the product of two large numbers. Since this is an asymmetric key
system, it requires two different keys for encryption and decryption process which must be
generated first. For RSA key generation algorithm, random numbers were first generated using
pseudo-random number generator (PNG) from which two distinct large numbers p and q were
selected by the algorithm. Primality test was then performed on the chosen numbers to check
whether the numbers are prime. If p and q passes the primality test, then the algorithm proceed
to compute the product of p and q as n and the Euler’s totient function. The Euler’s totient
function given by
    1 1n p q    (3)
In case p and q or anyone of them is not a prime number (fails the primality test), it returns to
select another p and q. Also, an integer e, which is the RSA encryption (public) key was chosen.
The encryption key selection is based on equation (4) given as
 
  
1
gcd , 1
e n
e n


  

 
(4)
In equation (4), e is relatively prime to ϕ(n). The interpretation of this is that the greatest
common divisor (gcd) between the RSA encryption key and the Euler’s totient function must not
be any other number other than one. To improve security and effectiveness of the system, p
and q must be of the same lengthin bits, must not be equal and they should not be too close to
each [33]. The next stage after the encryption key selection is the computation of the RSA
private key d, computed using the Extended Euclidean Algorithm given in equation (5)
  1modd e n  (5)
From equation (5), the RSA private key is given as
  1
modd e n
 (6)

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a. The Hybrid Image Encryption and Decryption Technique
In the developed hybrid technique which uses a combination of DES and RSA, DES
was used to encrypt the digital image due to its fast response (simulation time) while RSA was
used to encrypt DES session key (secret key). The flow chart of the entire digital image
encryption using this technique is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Flow chart of image encryption and decryption using the developed
hybrid technique [32].
From the figure, the digital image M, loaded into the system was made to pass through
a DES encryption algorithm using DES session key k. The output of this process results in an
encrypted data C. More also, the DES session key was passed through a RSA encryption
algorithm using RSA public key e, thereby resulting in an encrypted session key j. These two
encrypted data (C and j) was then sent to a receiver over a communication channel. Since DES
is a symmetric key cryptography system (uses the same key for encryption and decryption), a
recipient at the receiving end, uses his RSA private key d, to retrieve the DES session key
before using this on DES decryption algorithm to obtain the original image. The four main
processes involved in the hybrid system and the operation in each of the stages are given
below:
(i) DES encryption of the digital image: the output of this stage is the encrypted data given in
equation (7)
 ,C E k M (7)

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(ii) RSA encryption of DES session key: this results in an encrypted session key given by
  mode
j k n (8)
(iii) RSA decryption of DES session key: this results in a decrypted session key at the receiving
end given by
  modd
k j n (9)
(iv) DES decryption of the encrypted image: results in the original digital image given in
equation (10)
 ,M D C k (10)
The hybrid cryptographic technique was implemented using Microsoft visual C#
platform on Intel (R) Atom (TM) CPU N270 with 1.6GHz processor speed, 2GB RAM, running
windows 7 operating system. The image encryption and decryption was done by loading three
image samples (of different formats) into a graphical user interface (GUI) developed in [34] to
facilitate easy use. Properties of the three image samples are shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Properties of the selected digital image
S/N Image Type Dimension Image Size (kB)
1 jpeg 290x174 14.37
2 png 500x304 118.91
3 jpg 300x168 6.67
For performance analysis, the speed and CPU power usage during encryption and
decryption process was determined. Also, the encryption and decryption time were recorded for
each image encryption/decryption process from the developed GUI. More also, the throughput
during each process was also calculated which gives an indication of the CPU power usage
during these two processes. The throughput TR, and the encryption ratio ER, are given by
equation (11) and equation (12) [35].
t
t
M
TR
E



(11)
y
x
L
ER
L
 
  
 
 (12)
where Mt is the size of the image to be encrypted/decrypted and Et is its corresponding
encryption/decryption time. In equation (12), Ly is the size of the encrypted data while Lx is the
size of the original data.

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3. Results and Discusions
3.1. Image Encryption and Decryption
Figure 2(a) shows a digital jpeg type image and Figure 2(b) shows its encrypted data
using the developed hybrid technique. Considering the figure, it can be observed that the
encrypted data provides no information about the original image. Thus meeting Shannon’s
definition of perfect secrecy [15]. Figure 3 and Figure 4 show the encryption for png and jpg type
images.
Figure 2. Image encryption for a jpeg type image (a) original image and (b) encrypted data using
the hybrid technique.
Figure 3. Image encryption for a png type image (a) original image (b) encrypted data using the
hybrid technique.

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Figure 4. Image encryption for a jpg type image (a) original image (b) encrypted data using the
hybrid technique.
Also in line with Figure 2, the original images and their encrypted form are statistically
independent. The mutual information between them is zero. It can be observed from the
presented figures that a perfect security was achieved which improves the security of the digital
image. In the research works of the authors in [27, 36], there is still little information between the
original image and its encrypted form. However, the hybrid technique used for this image
encryption has achieved security as illustrated in the results of the encryption presented above.
Figure 5, Figure 6 and Figure 7 show the histogram of the original and the encrypted
image for the three tested image data type. In these figures, it is observed that the statistical
pattern of both the original image and its encrypted form is totally different for each of the image
type. The correlation between the two data can be said to be zero as there is no statistical
correlation between them; thus meeting Shannon’s definition of perfect secrecy, thereby
enhancing security.
Figure 5. Histogram plot for the jpeg type image (a) original image (b) encrypted data.

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Figure 6. Histogram plot for the png type image (a) original image (b) encrypted data.
Figure 7. Histogram plot for the jpg type image (a) original image (b) encrypted data.
Moreover, to further analysis the degree of correlation between the original and the
encrypted image, we present in Figure 8 to Figure 10, the scatter plot of these data. Looking at
these figures, the RGB pixel pattern for the original image of each image type is different when
compared to their corresponding encrypted form. While the pixel pattern of the encrypted
images clusttered together at most point on the plot, a different orientation is observed for the
original data.

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Figure 8. Scatter plot for the jpeg type image (a) original image (b) encrypted data.
Figure 9. Scatter plot for the png type image (a) original image (b) encrypted data.
Figure 10. Scatter plot for the jpg type image (a) original image (b) encrypted data.

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3.2.Simulation Time and Throughput
The simulation time, throughput and the encryption ratio achieved using this technique
is shown in Figures 11-13. Considering Figure 11, one can see that the simulation time is higher
during encryption process for jpeg and png type images. However, for jpg type image the
decryption time is higher than its encryption time. The simulation time for each of the three
images is less than one second, depicting high speed of encryption and decryption achieved by
the technique.
Figure 11. Encryption and decryption time for the tested images.
Figure 12. Throughput of encryption and decryption for the tested images.
The throughput for both the encryption and decryption process is shown in Figure 12.
Considering the figure, both the png and jpg type image has a higher throughput for their
encryption process with respect to their decryption process. However, in jpeg type image, the
throughput for decryption process is a little bit higher than the encryption process. In general,
higher throughput translates to lower CPU power consumption usage by the algorithm [35]. It
can be observed that, the png type image which has larger size than the jpeg and jpg type
image has the highest throughput, which means it consume less power during encryption.
Figure 13 shows the encryption ratio for the selected images. For text data, the size of
the decrypted text must be equal to the original text size [9] making the encryption ratio to be
one. However, this is not a requirement for image data, a small distortion in the decrypted image
is acceptable [9]. Considering the figure, the encryption ratio in each case is not equal to one
which is in line with Narendra [9]. It can also be observed that the encryption ratio of the png
type image is lower than that of jpg and jpeg type images. This means that the size of the

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encrypted data for the png is small compare to the original image. This consumes lesser
bandwidth for transmission and storage over wireless networks. Therefore, transmitting large
sizes of digital images over wireless communication networks using this technique is possible
as it provides a better bandwidth utilization.
Figure 13. Encryption ratio for the tested images.
4. Conclusion
Digital image encryption has been achieved using hybrid (DES-RSA) cryptographic
technique for applications over wireless communication networks. The overall simulation results
yield useful information. The technique gives an improved security of the selected images
according to Shannon’s definition of perfect security. Also, the technique gives a low simulation
time for the encryption and decryption process and lower throughput for the tested image
samples. Hence, the hybrid technique for image encryption and decryption will adapt well in
applications where security demand is a requirement, with fast simulation time. This technique
will contribute to improving security of digital image for applications over wireless
communication and sensor networks. More also, the results obtained showed that the hybrid
technique will be more useful for real-time applications involving sending larger sizes of digital
images over wireless communication networks without consuming much bandwidth and power.
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