Development of an Encrypting System for an Image Viewer based on Hill Cipher Algorithm

Abstract

Security breaches to personal computing devices, cloud storage accounts, portable media devices are rampant in todays world. Also, Increased intrusions into corporate servers and employee workstations often times lead to the unwarranted exposure of an individual or corporate secret and a breach to privacy. Information leaked through such intrusions and breaches especially images are often times in the public terrain without a users or corporate consent. This breaches are due to a variety of reasons including internal saboteurs, theft, social engineering or a computer security attack. At times other crimes like fraud, blackmail, kidnapping and assassinations may follow. This study presents the development of an Encryption system in an Image Viewer Application. Encrypting Images before storage or transfer to any platform helps limit risk when images are stolen or leaked. The image viewer was designed in C#.NET using the Hill Cipher algorithm for Image Encryption and Decryption. The results for images are shown to be good for two image samples. However, low key image samples produce a better result after Encryption. In general, Encryption of user generated images is a vital security strategy and a good option to have to prevent against a growing number of threats.