DES Based Method to Improve Color Image Cryptography

Color image cryptography is one of the popular methods used to protect data from being hacked. In this research paper a novel method of color image cryptography will be introduced, tested and implemented. This method will enhance some features of the DES standard by increasing the level of security and providing a high degree of image protection. Two image_keys will be used to generate two sets of primary keys, the first set will be used to calculate RLDs for each value in the image, the second set will be used to apply XORing operations, the two images must be kept in secret, the user has the ability to replace these images when needed without modifying the method. The proposed method will divide the image to be encrypted (decrypted) into block, the block size is variable and the user must determine the block size. The process of cryptography can be accomplished using a selected number of rounds, the number of rounds is also determined by the user, more number of rounds are needed to optimize the values of MSE and PSNR between the source and the encrypted images. The method will use a variable length private key; this length will depend on the selected number of rounds and the selected block size. The proposed method will be implemented; the obtained results will be compared with DES results to show how the proposed method improves the efficiency of color image cryptography.