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. 2025 Mar 3;15(1):7465.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-91431-z.

Integrity verified lightweight ciphering for secure medical image sharing between embedded SoCs

Siva Janakiraman  1 , Vinoth Raj R  2 , R Sivaraman  3 , A Sridevi  1 , Har Narayan Upadhyay  1 , Rengarajan Amirtharajan  1
Affiliations

Integrity verified lightweight ciphering for secure medical image sharing between embedded SoCs

Siva Janakiraman et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

In the age of digital communication, safeguarding the security and integrity of transmitted images is crucial, especially for online and real-time applications where data privacy is paramount. This paper addresses the problem of protecting sensitive medical images during transmission by proposing a robust, lightweight encryption scheme. The proposed method uses keys derived from the Lorentz attractor for diffusion and a 16-bit Linear Feedback Shift Register (LFSR) for pseudo-random confusion. Additionally, the Cipher Block Chaining (CBC) process enhances the encryption output to ensure stronger security. A 512-bit hashing scheme using the Whirlpool algorithm is implemented to maintain data integrity, providing a robust hash comparison mechanism. The obtained hash values achieve a Hamming distance of 46.5-53.3% against the ideal value of 50%, demonstrating its high sensitivity. Furthermore, a custom-tailored lightweight symmetric key encryption secures the hash values before transmission from the sender alongside the encrypted images. At the receiver end, the hash is decrypted and compared with the extracted hash from the received cipher image to verify integrity, enabling secure decryption. The encrypted DICOM images achieve an average entropy value of 7.99752, a PSNR of 5.872 dB, NPCR of 99.66128%, and a UACI of 33.55964%, while the noise attack analysis further demonstrates its robustness. The entire process was implemented and tested on Xilinx PYNQ-Z1 System on Chip (SoC) boards, with user interaction facilitated through a custom-designed Graphical User Interface (GUI). The experimental results confirm the scheme's effectiveness in securing medical images while maintaining integrity and resilience against attacks, making it suitable for real-time and wireless applications.

Keywords: Data attack; Encryption; FPGA; Hash function; Lightweight; SoC.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethics approval: All authors have read, understood, and have complied as applicable with the statement on “Ethical responsibilities of Authors” as found in the Instructions for Authors.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
2D Phase Portraits of the Lorenz Chaotic Attractor.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Functional simulation of Lorentz attractor.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Cipher block chaining.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
16-bit XNOR-based LFSR.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Single-round operation in Whirlpool hash generation.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Proposed image encryption framework using Lorentz attractor and cipher block chaining.
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
Block diagram of secure hash code sharing for integrity verification.
Fig. 8
Fig. 8
Proposed lightweight hash encryption scheme.
Fig. 9
Fig. 9
GUI for secure hash-governed cipher image sharing between SoCs.
Fig. 10
Fig. 10
Plain images: (a–e) Test images 1–5.
Fig. 11
Fig. 11
Ciphered images: (a–e) Test images 1–5.
Fig. 12
Fig. 12
(a) Correlation analysis on Plain image – Test image1: (i) Horizontal, (ii) Vertical and (iii) Diagonal. (b) Correlation analysis on Encrypted image – Test image1: (i) Horizontal, (ii) Vertical and (iii) Diagonal.
Fig. 13
Fig. 13
Histograms of encrypted images: (a) Test image 1, (b) Test image 2, (c) Test image 3, (d) Test image 4 and (e) Test image 5.
Fig. 14
Fig. 14
Chosen plaintext attack: (a) Plain image – Test image3 XOR Test image4, (b) Ciphered image – Test image3 XOR Test image4.
Fig. 15
Fig. 15
Hamming distance calculation.
Fig. 16
Fig. 16
Noise attack analysis.
Fig. 17
Fig. 17
Operational setup of D2D Wireless Interaction between the PYNQ FPGA with real-time interaction through GUI.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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