Abstract

The healthcare industry has undergone a transformation due to the widespread use of advanced
communication technologies and wireless sensor networks such as the Internet of Medical
Things (IoMT), Health Information Exchange Technology (HIET), Internet of Healthcare Things
(IoHT) and Health IoT (HIoT). These technologies have led to an increase in the transmission of
medical data, particularly medical imaging data, over various wireless communication channels.
However, transmitting high-quality color medical images over insecure internet channels like
the Internet and communication networks like 5G presents significant security risks that
could threaten patients’ data privacy. Furthermore, this process can also burden the limited
bandwidth of the communication channel, leading to delayed data transmission. To address
security concerns in healthcare data, researchers have focused a lot of attention on medical
image encryption as a means of protecting patient data. This paper presents a color image
encryption scheme that integrates multiple encryption techniques, including alternate quantum
random walks, controlled Rubik’s Cube transformations, and the integration of the Elliptic Curve
Cryptosystem with Hill Cipher (ECCHC). The proposed scheme divides various plaintext images
by creating a regular cube by layering planes of a fixed size. Each plane is rotated in an
anticlockwise direction, followed by row, column and face swapping, and then DNA encoding
is performed. The image cube encoded with DNA is combined with the chaotic cube through
DNA addition, and a couple of random DNA sequences are chosen for DNA mutation. After
undergoing DNA mutation, the encoded cube is then decoded using DNA. The proposed method
has the theoretical capability of encrypting 2D images of unlimited size and number by utilizing
an infinitely large cube. The proposed image encryption scheme has been rigorously tested
through various experimental simulations and cyberattack analysis, which shows the efficiency
and reliability of the proposed encryption scheme.