{"paper_id":"1d6fc3c9-4cc2-458f-ab6b-ce6ef1c47089","body_text":"CDLAKS: Chaotic DNA-Based Lightweight Authenticated Key-Dependent Steganographic Framework for Secure Transmission of Medical Images in Iot Environments | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article CDLAKS: Chaotic DNA-Based Lightweight Authenticated Key-Dependent Steganographic Framework for Secure Transmission of Medical Images in Iot Environments KOUSALYA R, SATHISH KUMAR G A, RAMYA A This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9110516/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 4 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract With the rapid deployment of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies in healthcare, the secure transmission of medical images and associated patient data has become a critical challenge due to strict resource constraints and increasing privacy threats. This paper presents a chaotic DNA-based lightweight authenticated key-dependent steganographic cryptosystem, that is known as CDLAKS system, for the secure and authenticated transmission of DICOM medical images in IoT environments. The proposed system incorporates multi-map chaotic key generation, DNA-based adaptive encoding, Arnold Cat map scrambling, and key-sensitive Least Significant Bit (LSB) steganography under a single 256-bit secret key. Data integrity and authentication are ensured by embedding a SHA-1 hash of the DNA-encoded payload on a cover image, which can be verified at the receiver side. Extensive investigation over standard medical images, such as CT, MRI, and X-ray modalities, reveals high imperceptibility, with Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) values of up to 79.8 dB and Structural Similarity Index (SSIM) values close to unity. Differential attack analysis using the Number of Pixel Change Rate (NPCR) and Unified Average Changing Intensity (UACI) confirms that the proposed scheme controls pixel modifications, making it well-suited for steganographic applications. The statistical test results obtained from the NIST Statistical Test Suite highlight the randomness of the 256-bit secret key. Furthermore, a hardware feasibility evaluation on the Spartan-6 FPGA has shown that the proposed design uses fewer than 12% of LUTs and 6% of memory and DSP blocks, thereby confirming its effectiveness for real-time and lightweight IoT healthcare systems. In summary, the CDLAKS scheme achieves an effective compromise among security, imperceptibility, authentication, and efficiency for secure medical image communication. Chaotic maps DNA cryptography DICOM image LFSR NIST FPGA Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviewers invited by journal 17 Mar, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 16 Mar, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 16 Mar, 2026 First submitted to journal 13 Mar, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {\"props\":{\"pageProps\":{\"initialData\":{\"identity\":\"rs-9110516\",\"acceptedTermsAndConditions\":true,\"allowDirectSubmit\":false,\"archivedVersions\":[],\"articleType\":\"Research Article\",\"associatedPublications\":[],\"authors\":[{\"id\":607760822,\"identity\":\"d23f3d3a-a1a8-4b2a-b91e-9e4462e3855b\",\"order_by\":0,\"name\":\"KOUSALYA R\",\"email\":\"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAtElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACCRCRUIHKJ0bLGZK1MLaR4jDJ9h7jDw/n1SX2tzcwfvjBYJFHUIs0zxkzicRthxNnnDnALNnDIFFMUIucRI4ZQ+K2A8YGEgkM0kCHJjYQocX4Q+KcOmMD+QfMv4nSIi2RYwBUxixnIMHARpwtkj3HyiQSjh2WkziT2GbZY0CEFonjzZs//qip4+FvP3z4xo+KOsJakAAjULEBCepHwSgYBaNgFOAGAI+xNFyq0h83AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC\",\"orcid\":\"\",\"institution\":\"Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering\",\"correspondingAuthor\":true,\"prefix\":\"\",\"firstName\":\"KOUSALYA\",\"middleName\":\"\",\"lastName\":\"R\",\"suffix\":\"\"},{\"id\":607760823,\"identity\":\"a37ff2b1-5cdb-49b7-9e74-6eeae27cbcbf\",\"order_by\":1,\"name\":\"SATHISH KUMAR G A\",\"email\":\"\",\"orcid\":\"\",\"institution\":\"Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering\",\"correspondingAuthor\":false,\"prefix\":\"\",\"firstName\":\"SATHISH\",\"middleName\":\"KUMAR G\",\"lastName\":\"A\",\"suffix\":\"\"},{\"id\":607760825,\"identity\":\"22bf8cc1-8694-49ec-97e3-cb1da6e1c5ca\",\"order_by\":2,\"name\":\"RAMYA A\",\"email\":\"\",\"orcid\":\"\",\"institution\":\"Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering\",\"correspondingAuthor\":false,\"prefix\":\"\",\"firstName\":\"RAMYA\",\"middleName\":\"\",\"lastName\":\"A\",\"suffix\":\"\"}],\"badges\":[],\"createdAt\":\"2026-03-13 05:38:27\",\"currentVersionCode\":1,\"declarations\":\"\",\"doi\":\"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9110516/v1\",\"doiUrl\":\"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9110516/v1\",\"draftVersion\":[],\"editorialEvents\":[],\"editorialNote\":\"\",\"failedWorkflow\":false,\"files\":[{\"id\":105035192,\"identity\":\"10a1336c-444b-4d3f-9131-82a1cbc11d23\",\"added_by\":\"auto\",\"created_at\":\"2026-03-20 07:25:39\",\"extension\":\"pdf\",\"order_by\":1,\"title\":\"\",\"display\":\"\",\"copyAsset\":false,\"role\":\"manuscript-pdf\",\"size\":1102256,\"visible\":true,\"origin\":\"\",\"legend\":\"\",\"description\":\"\",\"filename\":\"Manuscript.pdf\",\"url\":\"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9110516/v1_covered_54ff65f4-b863-4a96-b5a3-193044860d12.pdf\"}],\"financialInterests\":\"No competing interests reported.\",\"formattedTitle\":\"\\u003cp\\u003eCDLAKS: Chaotic DNA-Based Lightweight Authenticated Key-Dependent Steganographic Framework for Secure Transmission of Medical Images in Iot Environments\\u003c/p\\u003e\",\"fulltext\":[],\"fulltextSource\":\"\",\"fullText\":\"\",\"funders\":[],\"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow\":false,\"hasManuscriptDocX\":false,\"hasOptedInToPreprint\":true,\"hasPassedJournalQc\":\"\",\"hasAnyPriority\":false,\"hideJournal\":false,\"highlight\":\"\",\"institution\":\"\",\"isAcceptedByJournal\":false,\"isAuthorSuppliedPdf\":true,\"isDeskRejected\":\"\",\"isHiddenFromSearch\":false,\"isInQc\":false,\"isInWorkflow\":false,\"isPdf\":true,\"isPdfUpToDate\":true,\"isWithdrawnOrRetracted\":false,\"journal\":{\"display\":true,\"email\":\"info@researchsquare.com\",\"identity\":\"the-journal-of-supercomputing\",\"isNatureJournal\":false,\"hasQc\":true,\"allowDirectSubmit\":false,\"externalIdentity\":\"\",\"sideBox\":\"Learn more about [The Journal of Supercomputing](https://www.springer.com/journal/11227)\",\"snPcode\":\"11227\",\"submissionUrl\":\"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/11227/3\",\"title\":\"The Journal of Supercomputing\",\"twitterHandle\":\"\",\"acdcEnabled\":true,\"dfaEnabled\":true,\"editorialSystem\":\"stoa\",\"reportingPortfolio\":\"Springer Hybrid\",\"inReviewEnabled\":true,\"inReviewRevisionsEnabled\":false},\"keywords\":\"Chaotic maps, DNA cryptography, DICOM image, LFSR, NIST, FPGA\",\"lastPublishedDoi\":\"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9110516/v1\",\"lastPublishedDoiUrl\":\"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9110516/v1\",\"license\":{\"name\":\"CC BY 4.0\",\"url\":\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/\"},\"manuscriptAbstract\":\"\\u003cp\\u003eWith the rapid deployment of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies in healthcare, the secure transmission of medical images and associated patient data has become a critical challenge due to strict resource constraints and increasing privacy threats. 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