Hyper chaotic Chen model-based medical image encryption and DNA coding framework for secure data transfer critical infrastructures

Image encryption in the healthcare sector is used to protect sensitive medical images, such as X-rays, MRI scans, and CT scans, from unauthorised access and disclosure. This is important because medical images often contain personal and confidential information that can be used for malicious purposes if it falls into the wrong hands. The proposed research utilises a hyperchaotic system along with DNA coding for the secure data transfer of medical images. The closed hash table method was used to scramble the random chaotic sequences produced by the Chen system. The DNA substitution approach and DNA coding and decoding principles were used to perform the diffusion. The encryption approach breaks down the robust pixel correlation and allows safe data transfer for teleradiology applications. The two-stage scrambling followed by a single-stage diffusion ensures security in data transfer and robustness against attacks. The real-time medical images are used in this research and validated by the performance metrics.