A Generalized approach to Selective Image
Encryption
Ms. Anuradha Konidena#1, Ms. Neha Arora*2
#*
Computer Science Department, UP Technical University
IILM College of Engineering and Technology, Plot No. 18, Knowledge Park – II, Greater Noida,(UP), India
1anukoni@rediffmail.com
2
neha.20july@gmail.com
Abstract— Digital rights management (DRM) systems enforce
the rights of the multimedia property owners while ensuring the
efficient rightful usage of such property. Encryption is used to
securely transmit data in open networks. Each type of data has
its own features; therefore different techniques should be used to
protect confidential image data from unauthorized access. In this
paper we would like to describe a general approach to generate
secure images by using image segmentation followed by
encryption. This approach is useful for mobile devices which are
low in resources.
Keywords— Security, real time applications, cryptography,
image processing.
I. INTRODUCTION
Internet applications are growing day by day and hence the
number of users is using this platform. With this immense
increase in the growth of internet and technologies, there is
also an increase of breach of security. Information that is
floated on internet is more in form of multimedia i.e. it
contains text, images, audio and video. Image plays an
important role, because this is one of the important methods of
authentication of various entities. One image is worth of 100
words. Security of such images is crucial to all users who uses
internet. Crypto graphic techniques are used to provide
security to text as well as images. Image information is
different from the text data, it has larger amount of data,
higher redundancy and stronger correlation between pixels.
Image encryption is used to protect and transform images into
various forms .This paper is organized as follows: In the
introduction section need of Image encryption is given.
Section2 contains Literature Survey and section3 describes
about the proposed methodology for image encryption .This
paper is concluded with comment on advantages and
disadvantages of selective encryption and future scope.
II. LITERATURE SURVEY
Image Encryption can be obtained by using various methods.
Most widely used methods use creation of confusion using
CHAOTIC METHODS, scrambling the pixels of the image,
which decreases the correlation between the pixels of the
image .Some methods also use compression before applying
encryption methods, in order to deal with big size of images.
Compressions are of two types: lossless compression and
lossy compression. Each have its own advantages and
disadvantages. One has to choose between these two
depending on the application. Some encryption techniques
makes use of Message Digest, Digital Signatures and Hash
values of the image other than the image in the subject and use
same as the key for encryption and decryption of the images.
Hybrid approaches were also in use. It ensures more security
by taking the advantages of the both the methods and
overcoming disadvantages of each. Advanced method of
existing encryption methods can also be used for image
encryption.
Some findings which used above said methods
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Aloka Sinha and Kehar Singh proposed Technique
for Image Encryption using Digital Signatures
(2003) 
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Chang-Mok Shin, Dong-Hoan Seo, Kyu-Bo Chol, Ha
Wmn Lee, and 
SmJmng Kim proposed “Technique for Image
Encryption using multi-level and image dividing
technique, 2003 . 

Guosheng Gu and Guoqiang Han and HuangPeiXiao , Guo-ji Zang also used chaotic approach in
their work 

Jiun-In Guo and Jui-Cheng Yen presented an
algorithm “New Mirror-Like Image Encryption
Algorithm and Its VLSI Architecture (1999)” 
,which generates chaotic sequences as part of image
encry ption
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S.S. Maniccam and N.G. Bourbakis have presented an
algorithm which makes use of Loss less compression for
binary and gray-scale image (2001).

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M. Zeghid, M. Machhout, L. Khriji, A. Baganne, and
R. Tourki analyzed advanced encryption technique
using key streams and Bibhudendra Acharya, Saroj
Kumar Panigrahy, Sarat Kumar Patra, and Ganapati
Panda proposed Advanced Hill Cipher algorithm 
The method proposed by Zhang Han, Wang Xiu
Feng uses permutation followed by non linear
mapping to circularly permuted image pixels 
Most of the above said methods encrypts the image in totality,
which is not required for some application .So Selective image
encryption aims at partial image encryption, it means instead
of encrypting the entire image, select areas of interest or
choose that crucial part of image like ‘signature’ which needs
more security and apply any of the above said methods; to
name a few..
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In the Enhanced Toss-A-Coin Method, which is
proposed by S.Kala Image is divided into two parts
and half part is encrypted and the remaining part is
compressed. 
Kalpana Singh and Shefalika Ghosh Samaddar [9]
have used the selective encryption technique in RSA
based on singular cubic curve for the text based
documents. In this method only a random of (r) is
encrypted rather than entire content. 
III. PROPOSED METHODOLOGY
Proposed methodology aims at segmenting the image and then
encrypting only that part of the image which needs to be
transmitted securely. The result of segmentation is a set of
non-overlapping coherent regions, whose union reproduces
the entire original image.
The proposed methodology follows as:
1. Segment the image into various parts:
 Text 
 Image or picture 
 Overlapping regions 
In general, in multimedia messages image’s intensity values
will be higher than the text. So for segmentation purpose we
can use Histogram approach. An image histogram is a type
of histogram that acts as a graphical representation of the
tonal distribution in a digital image. It plots the number of
pixels of each tone value.
By looking at the histogram for a specific image a viewer will
be able to judge the entire tonal distribution at a glance
2 Identify area of interest/crucial information that needs to be
encrypted
3. Using either public or private encryption methods encrypt
the resultant of step2
Note: Symmetric encryption algorithms are fast compared to
asymmetric ones.
4. Send the encrypted image to the receiver.
5.The receiver at the other end will decrypt the image to get
back the original.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper we analysed need of selective image encryption,
which is followed by various mechanisms implemented by
various research scholars for different kinds of data. The
generalized approach is useful for real life applications which
use multimedia data on devices which are low in resources.
We would like to conclude that there is always trade off
between level of security and cost of the algorithm.
Future Scope: This approach may further be extended to
handle multiple images/pictures simultaneously.
REFERENCES
[1] A Fast Segmentation Algorithm for Bi-Level Image Compression using
JBIG2 Dave A. D. Tompkins and Faouzi KossentiniSignal Processing and
Multimedia GroupDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of British Columbia Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4 Canada
{davet,faouzi}@ece.ubc.ca http://spmg.ece.ubc.ca (Invited Paper)
[2] Image Encryption Using Block-Based Transformation Algorithm
Mohammad Ali Bani Younes and Aman Jantan IAENG International
Journal of Computer Science, 35:1, IJCS_35_1_03
[3] A Study on Different Approaches of Selective Encryption Technique,
Saurabh Sharma, Pushpendra Kumar, Pateriya International Journal of
Computer Science & Communication Networks,Vol 2(6), 658-662.
[4] Analysis and Cryptanalysis of a Selective Encryption Method for JPEG
Images W. Puech, J.M. Rodrigues
[5] Improved Block Based Segmentation and Compression Techniques for
Compound Images, D.MAHESWARI, DR.V.RADHA, International Journal
of Computer Science & Engineering Technology (IJCSET)
[6] Image Encryption For Color Images Using Bit Plane And Edge Map
Cryptography Algorithm R.Gopinath, M.Sowjanya International Journal of
Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT) Vol. 1 Issue 8, October – 2012
[7] Permutation based image encryption techniques by Sesha Pallavi
Indrakanti, P.S.Avadhani, International Journal of Computer Applications
(0975 – 8887) Volume 28– No.8, August 2011
[8] Processing JPEG-Compressed Images and Documents Ricardo L. de
Queiroz, Member, IEEE, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON IMAGE PROCESSING,
VOL. 7, NO. 12, DECEMBER 1998
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