Image Encryption and Stegenography Based on Computational Single Pixel Imaging

Abstract

Multiple layers of information security are introduced based on computational ghost imaging (CGI). We show, in the first step, that it is possible to design a very reliable image encryption scheme using 3D computational ghost imaging with two single-pixel detectors sending data through two channels. Through the Normalized Root Mean Square scale, it is then shown that a further level of security can be achieved by merging data-carrying channels into one and using a coded order for their placement in the sequence of bucket data carried by the single channel. Yet another layer of security is introduced through hiding the actual grayscale image inside another image such that the hidden image cannot be recognized by naked eyes. We then retrieve the hidden image from a CGI reconstructed image. It is shown that the proposed scheme increases the security and robustness such that an attacker needs more than 96 percent of the coded order to recover the hidden data. Storing a grayscale image in a ghost image and retrieving different intensities for the hidden image is unprecedented and could be of interest to the information security community.