Medical Image Encryption Using DNA Computing and a BiologicallyInspired PRNG for Healthcare Data Privacy

Medical Image Encryption Using DNA Computing and a BiologicallyInspired PRNG for Healthcare Data Privacy | 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 Medical Image Encryption Using DNA Computing and a BiologicallyInspired PRNG for Healthcare Data Privacy Faiza Waheed, Takreem Haider This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8246046/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract With the rise of digital healthcare, ensuring the confidentiality of medical data has become increasingly critical. The widespread adoption of electronic medical records requires robust encryption techniques to protect sensitive patient information from unauthorized access and cyberattacks. We propose a novel pseudorandom number generator (PRNG) inspired by the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium principle, integrating cryptographic techniques with nonlinear dynamics through quadratic functions to enhance randomness and security. The generated sequences are applied within a medical image encryption framework. Specifically, DNA encoding is used to transform medical image data, while the proposed PRNG provides highly random diffusion keys. For the confusion stage, the advanced encryption standard substitution box is used to introduce permutation. The effectiveness of the proposed PRNG is validated through a comprehensive experimental evaluation, including the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) statistical test suite, in which it successfully passes all tests across two trial sets consisting of 30 and 100 generated sequences, respectively. Furthermore, the performance of the proposed encryption scheme is evaluated on medical images through statistical analyzes. Comparative results with recent state-of-the-art medical image encryption methods indicate enhanced security properties, particularly in terms of statistical randomness, key sensitivity, and resistance to cryptographic attacks. Medical image encryption DNA encoding Hardy-Weinberg principle Cryptographic security Privacy Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted 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-8246046","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":556466075,"identity":"405da7b8-90a4-4a02-baaf-6e47cfa962e4","order_by":0,"name":"Faiza Waheed","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"National University of Sciences and Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Faiza","middleName":"","lastName":"Waheed","suffix":""},{"id":556466076,"identity":"7cddcf66-1f9b-47c5-b76c-3ff0d4f18e91","order_by":1,"name":"Takreem Haider","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"National University of Sciences and Technology","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Takreem","middleName":"","lastName":"Haider","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-12-01 04:38:27","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8246046/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8246046/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":97811919,"identity":"1f5ca0e8-0ba1-42c3-b4d3-ca134e3e539a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-09 16:05:01","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":948424,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"mainTH.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8246046/v1/d4c46f1edbf94b8e8b544517.pdf"},{"id":97811918,"identity":"220d0a26-82db-40c5-85a0-b1430c800c0f","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-09 16:05:01","extension":"json","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":4306,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"e461f10edfb9416d88eae0022d39126d.json","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8246046/v1/6d0465adcfa27fd9adfa6492.json"},{"id":98437160,"identity":"a74a1f3e-6cdc-49ef-bb6a-5a74c29dfc78","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-17 16:57:05","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":995889,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"mainTH.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8246046/v1_covered_be64cf3b-5312-4871-abb9-b75398c688f4.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Medical Image Encryption Using DNA Computing and a BiologicallyInspired PRNG for Healthcare Data Privacy","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"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":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Medical image encryption, DNA encoding, Hardy-Weinberg principle, Cryptographic security, Privacy","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8246046/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8246046/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"With the rise of digital healthcare, ensuring the confidentiality of medical data has become increasingly critical. 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