Cryptanalysis of substitution-permutation network based image encryption schemes: a systematic review

Modern-day’s digital world witnesses large-scale transmissions of various media forms (including images) in resource-constrained environments. The sensitive nature of transmitted images has highlighted the importance of image security. Substitution-Permutation Network (SPN) is a popular encryption design catering to the special needs of images. Several reviews on image encryption schemes exist in literature, but reviews focusing on cryptanalysis of image encryption schemes are rare. This motivated us to conduct this systematic review (period: 2019–2023), exploring the trends of cryptanalysis of SPN-based image encryption schemes. This review presents the state-of-the-art in the domain of design and analysis of image encryption. We also identify and highlight the weak designs in existing schemes and provide suggestions for overcoming these weaknesses to prevent potential cryptanalytic attacks. Ultimately, our goal is to contribute to the ongoing efforts to improve security and resilience of image encryption schemes, offering a significant resource for researchers working in this area.