Vargas Valencia, Javier AlbertoJavier AlbertoVargas ValenciaArango, Carlos Alberto MarínCarlos Alberto MarínArangoGarcía, Jairo DavidJairo DavidGarcíaRafael Antonio Uribe GuerraGómez, Luis Fernando DuqueLuis Fernando DuqueGómez2026-10-082026-10-082026-06-08Vargas Valencia, Javier Alberto; Arango, Carlos Alberto Marín; García, Jairo David; Guerra, Rafael Uribe; Gómez, Luis Fernando Duque (2026-06-08). Chaotic Image Encryption by Intra-Channel Diffusion and Inter-Channel Confusion. Journal of Cybersecurity and Privacy, 6(3), 101. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcp60301012624-800Xhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12740/24871Most image encryption schemes exhibit one or more of the following limitations: keystream bias, high residual pixel correlation, pattern leakage, low sensitivity to key changes, or a security-efficiency trade-off. We present a robust image encryption framework based on a chaotic system that operates across the red, green, and blue color channels and mitigates all of the above vulnerabilities. The scheme consists of a novel integration of strong bidirectional modular diffusion, inter-channel confusion using a six-state permutation table, and Secure Hash Algorithm 256-based key derivation. Thus, we achieve the following: lossless reconstruction, near-ideal entropy, negligible adjacency correlation, high sensitivity to infinitesimal changes in both the plaintext and the secret key, a complete diffusion effect confirmed by standard differential metrics, and resilience against known- and chosen-plaintext attacks. Furthermore, the results comply with the National Institute of Standards and Technology randomness tests. These results are obtained with competitive encryption times (∼0.37 s for 512 × 512 images) without any code optimization. All of these features make the scheme promising for secure real-time visual data transmission, particularly in telemedicine and Internet of Things surveillance.http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/RGB image encryptionchaotic cryptographyinter-channel confusionmodular diffusioncryptanalysiskey-space analysisinformation securityArticulohttps://doi.org/10.3390/jcp6030101