Encryption of Images Using the Modified AES Algorithm and Its Comparison with the Original AES

In today’s world, optimization is what needs to be talked about. The explosive growth of the Internet and communication technologies has made the widespread use of images inevitable. The special characteristics of the image, such as high bit rate with limited bandwidth, redundancy, bulk capacity, and correlation between pixels, make standard algorithms unsuitable for image encryption. As cybercrime has reached an all-time high, pre-encryption of data is required for protection. From personal data traded on the dark web to application vulnerabilities, our data is constantly monitored, making encryption paramount. When it comes to encryption, AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) is the gold standard for security. It is a subset of the Rijndael block cipher, which uses a 128-bit data block and a 128-bit, 192-bit and 256-bit key size, giving three different versions of AES, namely AES128, AES192, and AES256. It is a symmetric encryption algorithm that uses the same key for encryption and decryption. The article proposes an algorithm based on a modified AES key extension, in which the encryption process is a bitwise exclusive or an operation of a set of image pixels together with 128-bit key that changes for each set of pixels.