Image encryption with chaotically coupled chaotic maps

We present a novel secure cryptosystem for direct encryption of color images, based on chaotically coupled chaotic maps. The proposed cipher provides good confusion and diffusion properties that ensures extremely high security because of the chaotic mixing of pixels' colors. Information is mixed and distributed over a complete image using a complex strategy that makes known plaintext attack unfeasible. The encryption algorithm guarantees the three main goals of cryptography: strong cryptographic security, short encryption/decrypdon time, and robustness against noise and other external disturbances. Due to the high speed, the proposed cryptosystem is suitable for application in real-time communication systems. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.