An image cryptography method by highly error-prone DNA storage channel

Xiangzhen Zan; Ling Chu; Ranze Xie; Yanqing Su; Xiangyu Yao; Peng Xu; Wenbin Liu

doi:10.3389/fbioe.2023.1173763

An image cryptography method by highly error-prone DNA storage channel

Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2023 Apr 19:11:1173763. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2023.1173763. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Xiangzhen Zan¹, Ling Chu¹, Ranze Xie¹, Yanqing Su¹, Xiangyu Yao¹, Peng Xu^{1

2

3}, Wenbin Liu^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Computational Science and Technology, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
² School of Computer Science of Information Technology, Qiannan Normal University for Nationalities, Duyun, Guizhou, China.
³ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Artificial Intelligence in Medical Image Analysis and Application, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.

Abstract

Introduction: Rapid development in synthetic technologies has boosted DNA as a potential medium for large-scale data storage. Meanwhile, how to implement data security in the DNA storage system is still an unsolved problem. Methods: In this article, we propose an image encryption method based on the modulation-based storage architecture. The key idea is to take advantage of the unpredictable modulation signals to encrypt images in highly error-prone DNA storage channels. Results and Discussion: Numerical results have demonstrated that our image encryption method is feasible and effective with excellent security against various attacks (statistical, differential, noise, and data loss). When compared with other methods such as the hybridization reactions of DNA molecules, the proposed method is more reliable and feasible for large-scale applications.

Keywords: DNA storage; highly error-prone DNA storage channel; image encryption; information security; multiple sequence alignment.

Grants and funding

This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 62072128 and 24562002079), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province of China (No. 2023A1515011401), and the Open Project of Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Artificial Intelligence in Medical Image Analysis and Application (No. 2022B1212010011).