A novel color image encryption scheme using alternate chaotic mapping structure

•The pseudo-random sequence generated by the scheme has an excellent statistical properties.•Two chaotic systems are used alternately and affect each other because of the initial values iteration.•Both theoretical analysis and numerical simulation prove the scheme security and resistance ability.•The proposed scheme is quite simple, so it is easy to implement, which makes it practical.

This paper proposes an color image encryption algorithm using alternate chaotic mapping structure. Initially, we use the R, G and B components to form a matrix. Then one-dimension logistic and two-dimension logistic mapping is used to generate a chaotic matrix, then iterate two chaotic mappings alternately to permute the matrix. For every iteration, XOR operation is adopted to encrypt plain-image matrix, then make further transformation to diffuse the matrix. At last, the encrypted color image is obtained from the confused matrix. Theoretical analysis and experimental results has proved the cryptosystem is secure and practical, and it is suitable for encrypting color images.