Multi-Stage Medical Image Encryption System Combining RSA and Steganography

Data security has become a major concern in the present era of the communication revolution, especially maintaining the confidentiality of medical images a prime concern in e-health establishments. As conventional techniques hold numerous drawbacks, this study aims to develop an image encryption algorithm by combining two renowned methods: the RSA algorithm and steganography. The proposed algorithm is modified with the help of the conventional RSA algorithm and steganography to provide an attainable solution to this alarming issue. RSA technique encrypts multiple medical images with distinct keys; further, these keys are embedded in two images to be transmitted secretly with the help of LSB steganography. The proposed system generates images of an unidentifiable pattern after encryption and decrypts those images without any loss. The claimed performances and robustness of the system are justified using different numerical and graphical measures such as PSNR, MSE, SSIM, NPCR, UACI, and histograms. This encryption method can be used for medical image transmission where image security is a vital concern.