A Hyperchaotic Image Encryption Paradigm Fusing DNA Sequence Operations with Bit-Level Multi-Stage Dynamic Scrambling

A Hyperchaotic Image Encryption Paradigm Fusing DNA Sequence Operations with Bit-Level Multi-Stage Dynamic Scrambling | 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 A Hyperchaotic Image Encryption Paradigm Fusing DNA Sequence Operations with Bit-Level Multi-Stage Dynamic Scrambling shadman Kareem, Mardan Pirdawood This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7525369/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 10 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Recently, the increasing severity of data breaches has made the security of digital images,as high-capacity visual information carriers, a critical concern. While chaotic maps arewidely applied in image encryption due to their high nonlinearity and sensitivity, many existingschemes suffer from degraded chaotic properties or an over-reliance on a single protectionmechanism. To address these shortcomings, this paper presents a novel and robust image encryptionparadigm that synergistically fuses a high-dimensional non-degenerate hyperchaoticmap with multi-stage dynamic scrambling and DNA sequence operations. The core of ourcryptographic construction is a parameter-hopping Lorenz system, where the parameters σ, ρ,and β are dynamically altered based on the system’s state trajectory and plaintext information,inducing non-stationary chaos and significantly enhancing resistance against phase-space reconstructionattacks. The encryption algorithm is meticulously architected in four sequentialstages: (1) bit-level permutation using a hyperchaotic sequence, (2) DNA encoding with ruleselection governed by a second chaotic sequence, (3) a confusion layer employing a DNAbasedXOR operation with a key-derived nucleotide stream, and (4) a final diffusion layer viachaotic bit masking. We formally prove the scheme’s perfect reconstructibility and demonstratethrough security analysis that the key space exceeds 2^30192, rendering brute-force attackscomputationally infeasible. Furthermore, we provide formal proofs for the system’s high sensitivityto both the encryption key and plaintext, achieving near-ideal values for the Numberof Changing Pixel Rate (NPCR > 99.61%) and Unified Average Changing Intensity (UACI ≈33.46%). Empirical validation on standard test images confirms the algorithm’s effectiveness,exhibiting uniform histogram distribution, near-maximum information entropy (≈7.997), andnegligible correlation coefficients between adjacent pixels (|rxy|<0.01). The proposed schemeoffers a cryptographically strong framework for secure digital image communication. Image Encryption Chaotic Cryptography DNA Encoding Rules Lorenz System Parameter Hopping Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 29 Oct, 2025 Reviews received at journal 07 Oct, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 02 Oct, 2025 Reviews received at journal 28 Sep, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 21 Sep, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 19 Sep, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 16 Sep, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 16 Sep, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 03 Sep, 2025 First submitted to journal 03 Sep, 2025 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. 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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-7525369","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":519189848,"identity":"2ba98b66-2bea-4781-98e8-354f1544e1f5","order_by":0,"name":"shadman Kareem","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"Koya University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"shadman","middleName":"","lastName":"Kareem","suffix":""},{"id":519189849,"identity":"27f48db4-8ba1-44b0-b5d2-2a8fb0c36ec4","order_by":1,"name":"Mardan Pirdawood","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Koya University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mardan","middleName":"","lastName":"Pirdawood","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-09-03 09:38:36","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7525369/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7525369/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":92132378,"identity":"bf42186d-0977-4df2-9fe4-e15b4d0cf288","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-09-25 03:27:46","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":10552827,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"AHyperchaoticImageEncryptionParadigmFusing2Sep2025.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7525369/v1/ed25abd29f6d71b8a1695373.pdf"},{"id":92132377,"identity":"0ca1c945-75db-44d1-8fe1-65d071b7d478","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-09-25 03:27:46","extension":"json","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":4750,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"276b7cca8cbe4c4d8c36e8930c1c81c6.json","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7525369/v1/d5c0995ed05f30a2c14da135.json"},{"id":92132584,"identity":"6f45158a-114c-46ab-93fb-9e539becd0f4","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-09-25 03:35:51","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":7298189,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"AHyperchaoticImageEncryptionParadigmFusing2Sep2025.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7525369/v1_covered_7f5af315-74ee-4d76-9cd1-3388d98017fd.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eA Hyperchaotic Image Encryption Paradigm Fusing DNA Sequence Operations with Bit-Level Multi-Stage Dynamic Scrambling\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":"[email protected]","identity":"cluster-computing","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"Learn more about [Cluster Computing](https://www.springer.com/journal/10586)","snPcode":"10586","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/10586/3","title":"Cluster Computing","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Image Encryption, Chaotic Cryptography, DNA Encoding Rules, Lorenz System, Parameter Hopping","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7525369/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7525369/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Recently, the increasing severity of data breaches has made the security of digital images,as high-capacity visual information carriers, a critical concern. While chaotic maps arewidely applied in image encryption due to their high nonlinearity and sensitivity, many existingschemes suffer from degraded chaotic properties or an over-reliance on a single protectionmechanism. To address these shortcomings, this paper presents a novel and robust image encryptionparadigm that synergistically fuses a high-dimensional non-degenerate hyperchaoticmap with multi-stage dynamic scrambling and DNA sequence operations. The core of ourcryptographic construction is a parameter-hopping Lorenz system, where the parameters σ, ρ,and β are dynamically altered based on the system’s state trajectory and plaintext information,inducing non-stationary chaos and significantly enhancing resistance against phase-space reconstructionattacks. The encryption algorithm is meticulously architected in four sequentialstages: (1) bit-level permutation using a hyperchaotic sequence, (2) DNA encoding with ruleselection governed by a second chaotic sequence, (3) a confusion layer employing a DNAbasedXOR operation with a key-derived nucleotide stream, and (4) a final diffusion layer viachaotic bit masking. We formally prove the scheme’s perfect reconstructibility and demonstratethrough security analysis that the key space exceeds 2^30192, rendering brute-force attackscomputationally infeasible. Furthermore, we provide formal proofs for the system’s high sensitivityto both the encryption key and plaintext, achieving near-ideal values for the Numberof Changing Pixel Rate (NPCR \u003e 99.61%) and Unified Average Changing Intensity (UACI ≈33.46%). Empirical validation on standard test images confirms the algorithm’s effectiveness,exhibiting uniform histogram distribution, near-maximum information entropy (≈7.997), andnegligible correlation coefficients between adjacent pixels (|rxy|\u003c0.01). 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