IRO Journals
Journal of Innovative Image Processing

A Four-Dimensional Chaotic Map for Secure Image Encryption and Data Embedding

Open Access
Published: 21 May, 2026
Pages: 684-701
  • Azhar Sadiq Jafer , Azhar Sadiq Jafer
    Department of Artificial Intelligent, College of Science, Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad, Iraq
    Department of Artificial Intelligent, College of Science, Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad, Iraq
  • Israa Mohammed Hassoon , Israa Mohammed Hassoon
    Department of Mathematics, College of Science, Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad, Iraq
    Department of Mathematics, College of Science, Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad, Iraq
  • Zahraa Jawad Kadhim , Zahraa Jawad Kadhim
    Information Technology Center, Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad, Iraq
    Information Technology Center, Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad, Iraq
  • Mohammed Imad Abdulkhaleq Mohammed Imad Abdulkhaleq
    Department of Computer Science, College of Basic Education, Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad, Iraq
    Department of Computer Science, College of Basic Education, Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad, Iraq
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How to Cite

Jafer, Azhar Sadiq, Israa Mohammed Hassoon, Zahraa Jawad Kadhim, and Mohammed Imad Abdulkhaleq. 2026. “A Four-Dimensional Chaotic Map for Secure Image Encryption and Data Embedding”. Journal of Innovative Image Processing 8 (2): 684-701. https://doi.org/10.36548/jiip.2026.2.013.
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Keywords

Image Encryption
Steganography
4D Chaotic Map
Data Embedding
Secure Communication
Cryptography

Abstract

This study proposes a full system that can protect digital images during transmission over the network while addressing the shortcomings of existing image encryption schemes. The suggested method combines encryption and steganography using a 4D hyper-chaotic map, which generates pseudo-random sequences that are operationally employed to encrypt the secret message using the XOR operation and dynamically choose the pixel positions for embedding the message with LSB substitution. The evaluation system assesses performance in terms of PSNR, SSIM, encryption time, key-space analysis, NIST statistical tests, NPCR, and UACI. The findings from experiments show that the proposed system has a key space of more than 2512 indicating strong security.  The images generated by the method, known as stego images, show very high quality. The PSNR values of the stego images range from 46.93 to 68.07 dB, and the SSIM values range from 0.892 to 0.995. The core encryption process takes no more than 1.19×10−5 seconds for key generation and XOR-based encryption, while the embedding process takes ~10−3 seconds. The proposed scheme has been confirmed to be robust through analysis. The NIST Statistical Test demonstrates that the data obtained is highly random in nature. Furthermore, the NPCR value obtained is more than 99.6% and UACI value is more than 33.4%. Thus, the data is highly resistant to the differential attacks.  In conclusion, the major contribution of this study is the use of a 4D hyper-chaotic map for providing secure encryption and dynamic embedding. The proposed system achieves a good balance between security, computational efficiency, and image quality, indicating that the proposed model can achieve secure real-time image transmission.

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