A secret image sharing based on neighborhood configurations of 2-D cellular automata

The main goal of this work is to research how neighborhood configurations of two-dimensional cellular automata (2-D CA) can be used to design secret sharing schemes, and then a novel (n, n)-threshold secret image sharing scheme based on 2-D CA is proposed. The basic idea of the scheme is that the original content of a 2-D CA can be reconstructed following a predetermined number of repeated applications of Boolean XOR operation to its neighborhood. The main characteristics of this new scheme are: each shared image has the same size as the original one; the recovered image is exactly the same as the secret image, i.e., there is no loss of resolution or contrast; and the computational complexity is linear. Simulation results and formal analysis demonstrate the correctness and effectiveness of the proposed sharing scheme.

► A secret image sharing scheme. ► based on neighborhood configurations of general linear 2-D CA without memory. ► Use only Boolean XOR operation. ► Satisfies security, accuracy, computational complexity and shadow size. ► Can resist substitution attacks and statistical attacks.