A new image cipher in time and frequency domains

Recently, various encryption techniques based on chaos have been proposed. However, most existing chaotic encryption schemes still suffer from fundamental problems such as small key space, weak security function and slow performance speed. This paper introduces an efficient encryption scheme for still visual data that overcome these disadvantages. The proposed scheme is based on hybrid Linear Feedback Shift Register (LFSR) and chaotic systems in hybrid domains. The core idea is to scramble the pixel positions based on 2D chaotic systems in frequency domain. Then, the diffusion is done on the scrambled image based on cryptographic primitive operations and the incorporation of LFSR and chaotic systems as round keys. The hybrid compound of LFSR, chaotic system and cryptographic primitive operations strengthen the encryption performance and enlarge the key space required to resist the brute force attacks. Results of statistical and differential analysis show that the proposed algorithm has high security for secure digital images. Furthermore, it has key sensitivity together with a large key space and is very fast compared to other competitive algorithms. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.