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Electronics
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Advances in Cryptography and Image Encryption
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Advances in Cryptography and Image Encryption

A special issue of Electronics (ISSN 2079-9292). This special issue belongs to the section "Computer Science & Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 3179

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Qi Zhao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Interests: scattering medium; image reconstruction; optical imaging; image encryption; optical data processing; cryptography; neural network; silicon photonics; optical device
Dr. Huanhao Li

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Guangzhou Institute of Technology, Xidian University, Guangdong, China
Interests: optical wavefront shaping; scattering imaging; deep learning for scattering
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Ruikang Yang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Cyber Engnieering, Xidian University, Xi'an, China
Interests: encryption

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In modern society, various cryptosystems, encompassing both software-based and hardware-based solutions, have been developed to protect private data. As for software-based cryptosystems, various encryption algorithms have been applied in people’s daily lives, where different cryptosystems have been developed for different applications. Furthermore, with the development of quantum computing and optical computing, researchers have proposed hardware-based cryptosystems, offering significantly higher encryption speeds and enhanced security levels.

Despite rising concerns about private data, cryptosystems continue to be a focal point of long-term research. To evaluate the proposed cryptosystems, it is essential to investigate various attack methods, such as the rapidly evolving neural network-based techniques, to identify potential vulnerabilities. Additionally, as an emerging technology, hardware-based cryptosystems have garnered considerable research interest. However, their practical applications remain limited and warrant further exploration.

This Special Issue aims to gather the latest advancements and research findings on cryptosystems, emphasizing the development of both software-based and hardware-based methods. We welcome contributions that address encryption algorithms, innovative attack methods, quantum and optical computing advancements, etc.

Dr. Qi Zhao
Dr. Huanhao Li
Dr. Ruikang Yang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Electronics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • cryptography
  • cryptosystem
  • image encryption
  • data encryption
  • deep learning
  • neural networks
  • optical encryption
  • optical computing
  • cyber attack

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

33 pages, 15603 KB  
Article
Research on Improving Data Efficiency in Double Random Phase Encryption
by Iori Okubo, Byungwoo Cho, Myungjin Cho and Min-Chul Lee
Electronics 2026, 15(5), 934; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics15050934 - 25 Feb 2026
Viewed by 303
Abstract
A notable drawback of Double Random Phase Encryption (DRPE), a prominent optical cryptography technique, is its low data efficiency. This is because both the encrypted image and the decryption key are represented as complex numbers. To address this issue, a conventional method was [...] Read more.
A notable drawback of Double Random Phase Encryption (DRPE), a prominent optical cryptography technique, is its low data efficiency. This is because both the encrypted image and the decryption key are represented as complex numbers. To address this issue, a conventional method was proposed that encrypts two images simultaneously by treating the first image as amplitude and the second image as phase. Nevertheless, processes such as integral imaging, which extract 3D object information from images, utilize vast amounts of imagery, necessitating further enhancements in data efficiency. The objective of this research is to enhance DRPE and improve data efficiency by increasing the number of images that can be processed simultaneously. This paper incorporates the information from a third image into the random phase mask used in conventional methods, enabling the simultaneous processing of three images. It also proposes a method to synthesize two images by extracting their high-order bits and combining them. The combination of this image composition method as a preprocessing step with the proposed DRPE method enables the simultaneous processing of six images. As a result, the proposed method achieves a data efficiency approximately six times that of the basic DRPE and approximately three times that of conventional methods. The quality of the decrypted images was evaluated using PSNR and SSIM, while the encryption strength was assessed in terms of key space, key sensitivity, entropy, and correlation coefficients. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Cryptography and Image Encryption)
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27 pages, 8990 KB  
Article
A Non-Embedding Watermarking Framework Using MSB-Driven Reference Mapping for Distortion-Free Medical Image Authentication
by Osama Ouda
Electronics 2026, 15(1), 7; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics15010007 - 19 Dec 2025
Viewed by 679
Abstract
Ensuring the integrity of medical images is essential to securing clinical workflows, telemedicine platforms, and healthcare IoT environments. Existing watermarking and reversible data-hiding approaches often modify pixel intensities, reducing diagnostic fidelity, introducing embedding constraints, or causing instability under compression and format conversion. This [...] Read more.
Ensuring the integrity of medical images is essential to securing clinical workflows, telemedicine platforms, and healthcare IoT environments. Existing watermarking and reversible data-hiding approaches often modify pixel intensities, reducing diagnostic fidelity, introducing embedding constraints, or causing instability under compression and format conversion. This work proposes a distortion-free, non-embedding authentication framework that leverages the inherent stability of the most significant bit (MSB) patterns in the Non-Region of Interest (NROI) to construct a secure and tamper-sensitive reference for the diagnostic Region of Interest (ROI). The ROI is partitioned into fixed blocks, each producing a 256-bit SHA-256 signature. Instead of embedding this signature, each hash bit is mapped to an NROI pixel whose MSB matches the corresponding bit value, and only the encrypted coordinates of these pixels are stored externally in a secure database. During verification, hashes are recomputed and compared bit-by-bit with the MSB sequence extracted from the referenced NROI coordinates, enabling precise block-level tamper localization without modifying the image. Extensive experiments conducted on MRI (OASIS), X-ray (ChestX-ray14), and CT (CT-ORG) datasets demonstrate the following: (i) perfect zero-distortion fidelity; (ii) stable and deterministic MSB-class mapping with abundant coordinate diversity; (iii) 100% detection of intentional ROI tampering with no false positives across the six clinically relevant manipulation types; and (iv) robustness to common benign Non-ROI operations. The results show that the proposed scheme offers a practical, secure, and computationally lightweight solution for medical image integrity verification in PACS systems, cloud-based archives, and healthcare IoT applications, while avoiding the limitations of embedding-based methods. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Cryptography and Image Encryption)
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36 pages, 26507 KB  
Article
A Novel Color Image Encryption Method Based on Hierarchical Surrogate-Assisted Optimization
by Gao-Yuan Liu, Ying Yu, Hui-Qi Zhao, Tian-Yu Gao and Zhi-Yang Chen
Electronics 2025, 14(23), 4716; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics14234716 - 29 Nov 2025
Viewed by 638
Abstract
To address the limitations of traditional image encryption algorithms in key optimization and encryption quality assessment, in this paper we propose a framework for image encryption based on surrogate-assisted differential evolution. First, we construct a novel fitness function based on pixel correlation, which [...] Read more.
To address the limitations of traditional image encryption algorithms in key optimization and encryption quality assessment, in this paper we propose a framework for image encryption based on surrogate-assisted differential evolution. First, we construct a novel fitness function based on pixel correlation, which quantitatively evaluates and optimizes encryption quality by minimizing the pixel correlation coefficient. Second, we propose an adaptive hierarchical surrogate-assisted differential evolution algorithm (HSADE-IQUA), which combines global and local phases. In the global optimization phase, HSADE-IQUA significantly improves the convergence speed and solution quality in constrained optimization through adaptive parameter control. In the local optimization phase, the population size is dynamically adjusted using the exponential moving average (EMA), achieving a balance between exploration and exploitation. The performance of HSADE-IQUA has been validated on a commonly used expensive optimization benchmark suite, achieving excellent experimental results. Third, a Chen hyperchaotic-DNA coding fusion encryption framework optimized by HSADE-IQUA (HSADE-IQUA-DNA) was constructed and tested on standard computer vision images, labeled datasets, and remote sensing images, proving that HSADE-IQUA-DNA can significantly reduce pixel correlation, effectively resist exhaustive attacks, noise attacks, and shearing attacks, and accurately recover the original image. Compared with traditional chaotic image encryption, HSADE-IQUA-DNA not only has a bottleneck in parameter optimization but also alleviates the single-key issue, further improving encryption security. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Cryptography and Image Encryption)
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15 pages, 3151 KB  
Article
A High-Payload Data Hiding Method Utilizing an Optimized Voting Strategy and Dynamic Mapping Table
by Kanza Fatima, Nan-I Wu, Chi-Shiang Chan and Min-Shiang Hwang
Electronics 2025, 14(17), 3498; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics14173498 - 1 Sep 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1046
Abstract
The exponential growth of multimedia communication necessitates advanced techniques for secure data transmission. This paper details a new data hiding method centered on a predictive voting mechanism that leverages neighboring pixels to estimate a pixel’s value. Secret data are concealed within these predictions [...] Read more.
The exponential growth of multimedia communication necessitates advanced techniques for secure data transmission. This paper details a new data hiding method centered on a predictive voting mechanism that leverages neighboring pixels to estimate a pixel’s value. Secret data are concealed within these predictions via a purpose-built lookup table, and the retrieval process involves re-estimating the predicted pixels and applying an inverse mapping function. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves an embedding capacity of up to 686,874 bits, significantly outperforming previous approaches while maintaining reliable data recovery. Compared with existing schemes, our approach offers improved performance in terms of both embedding capacity and extraction accuracy, making it an effective solution for robust multimedia steganography. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Cryptography and Image Encryption)
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