| A Multilayer Visual Cryptography Framework for Secured Secret Messages Transmission | |
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MSRDG International Journal of Computer Scientific Technology & Electronics Engineering
© 2025 by MSRDG IJCSTEE Journal Volume 1 Issue 6
Year of Publication: 2025 |
Paper Download Article ID MSRDG-IJCSTEE-V1I6P103 |
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Abstract: The proliferation of digital communication channels has intensified the demand for robust and computationally efficient security mechanisms capable of protecting sensitive data during transmission. Traditional cryptographic approaches, while effective, often impose significant computational overhead and remain susceptible to side-channel attacks when deployed in resource-constrained environments. Visual cryptography (VC) offers a compelling paradigm by encoding secret information into visually innocuous shares that individually reveal no meaningful content. However, classical VC schemes suffer from pixel expansion, limited contrast, and insufficient resistance to statistical and differential cryptanalysis. This paper introduces a Multilayer Visual Cryptography Framework (MLVCF) designed to address these inherent limitations through a tripartite encryption architecture. The proposed framework integrates (i) a pixel permutation layer driven by a logistic chaotic map, (ii) an XOR-based visual share generation layer implementing a threshold (k, n) scheme, and (iii) a chaotic key-stream layer derived from the Lorenz system to amplify entropy and key space. Experimental validation on benchmark datasets demonstrates that the proposed scheme achieves a Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) of 38.6 dB and Structural Similarity Index (SSIM) of 0.95 during decryption, outperforming state-of-the-art methods by margins of 7.4 dB and 0.19 SSIM units, respectively. The framework exhibits a key space exceeding 10²²³, rendering brute-force attacks computationally infeasible. |
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| Keywords: Visual cryptography · Multilayer encryption · Secret sharing · Chaotic maps · Pixel permutation · Threshold scheme · Image security · Information hiding | |
