Ciphers based on Special Graphs
Priyadarsini P. L. K.* Ramakalyan Ayyagari
Department of Computer Science
PRIST University
Thanjavur, India
priya.ayyagari@yahoo.co.in
Abstract— Applications of Graph theory in Cryptography have
recently gained momentum. In the last two decades new methods
of encryption and decryption using extremal graph theory and
expander graphs have been proposed. In this work, new
algorithms for binary encoding and decoding are designed. These
algorithms use Hadamard encoding by generating random
Hadamard matrices of order 16 X 16 from strongly regular
graphs that have a specific property. Choice of keys from 16!
number of random permutations makes the algorithms stronger
against attacks. The performance of these algorithms is
demonstrated on different images and text messages.
Keywords—Encryption, Decryption, Hadamard Matrices, Strongly
Regular Graphs
I. INTRODUCTION
In recent years there has been an explosive growth in the
use of computers and their network connections. Military
communications amass a great deal of confidential
information and hence it is needless to mention how much
important it is to keep the confidentiality, authentication and
access control in all the defence communications. This led to
the importance of protecting information and the systems from
network attacks [1].
Graph theory has always been in main stream research
because of its applications in diverse fields such as
biochemistry, coding theory, communication networks and
their security etc. In particular researchers are exploring the
concepts from graph theory that can be put to use in different
areas of Cryptography [2-18].
In the proposed work, new algorithms for encoding based
on strongly regular graphs that have a specific property, and a
corresponding decoding algorithm were designed. It is a
hybrid cryptosystem operating with a combination of
symmetric key and a public key. Simplicity and speed
strengthen the algorithms.
Shrikhande graph is a strongly regular graph having
above mentioned specific property. The proposed algorithms
use Hadamard codes by generating a Hadamard matrix of
order 16 X 16 from Shrikhande graph and by increasing it to
the required size using Sylvester method. Shrikhande graph
with a specific labeling will be private key. Different
*This research work is sponsored by Defence Research and Development
Organization (DRDO), Govt. of India, New Delhi
978-1-4673-6217-7/13/$31.00 2013
c IEEE
Department of Instrumentation and Control Engineering
National Institute of Technology
Trichy, India
rkalyan@gmail.com
Hadamard matrices can be obtained by changing labeling of
the Shrikhande graph vertices in 16! ways. Hence cracking
key from 16! (which is equal to 20,922,789,888,000) random
permutations, makes the algorithm stronger against attacks.
The performance of encoding and decoding algorithms is
tested with different images and text messages.
Rest of the paper is organized as follows. In the next
section, a brief survey on graph theory in the field of
cryptography is given. In section III, details of the algorithm
are given after presenting some preliminaries. Results are
discussed in section IV and the paper is concluded in section
V.
II. LITERATURE SURVEY
Gideon [2] patented an encryption method based on
charting a path on a graph which is the encryption key.
Mittenthal [3] proposed methods for finding complete Latin
squares based on the concept of directed graphs. In [4], Lu et
al proposed a new visual cryptography scheme that allows
for sharing of multiple secret images on graphs.
The idea to use families of simple graphs of large
girth in Cryptography had been explored in [5 -11]. The
general idea in [5, 6] is to consider the set of vertices as the
plainspace and a path in the graph as an encryption tool such
as password. The absence of short cycles ensures that
different passwords convert chosen plaintext to different
ciphertexts. In [7-10], the cryptographical properties of
infinite families of simple graphs of large girth with special
colouring of vertices were investigated.
An expander graph is a graph with a property that
every subset of the vertices has many neighbors. This concept
was used in [12-15] for solving different problems in
Cryptography.
Codes generated by the adjacency matrix of a graph
did not get the deserved attention, specifically of strongly
regular graphs [16]. In [17], theoretical properties of Binary
codes of Strongly Regular Graphs, in general, were derived.
The properties of Ranks of the Adjacency Matrices of graphs,
Strongly Regular Graphs in particular were given in [18, 19]
Tonchev [20] derived Binary codes from the Hoffman-
Singleton and Higman-Sims graphs.
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 III. PROPOSED WORK
A. Preliminaries
Adjacency matrix of a simple graph G [21] on n vertices is
an n × n matrix of entries aij, ‫ ͳ׊‬൑ ݅ǡ ݆ ൑ ݊ such that
aij = 1 if (vi , vj ) ∈ G
0 otherwise.
A regular graph is a graph with vertices of equal degree, i.e.
every vertex of a regular graph has a fixed number of edges
incident on them. If that degree is k then the graph is said to be
having valency k.
A strongly regular graph [16] with parameters (n; k; Ȝ; ȝ) is
a graph on n vertices which is regular with valency k and has
the following properties:
• Any two adjacent vertices have exactly Ȝ common
neighbours.
• Any two nonadjacent vertices have exactly ȝ common
neighbours.
A Hadamard matrix H [22] of order n is an n × n matrix of
1s and -1s with a property that
HHT = n In
where In is n×n identity matrix and HT is the transpose of H.
Equivalently, a Hadamard matrix is an n× n matrix of 1s and
-1s in which any two distinct rows agree in exactly n/2
positions (and thus disagree in exactly n/2 positions.) A
Hadamard matrix is called graphical if it is
symmetric with identical diagonal elements.
Hadamard matrix of order i+1 can be constructed from a
Hadamard matrix of order i as follows, by using Sylvester
Method [24-26]:
Hi+1 =
Shrikhande Graph is a strongly regular graph with
parameters (16, 6, 2, 2) i.e. it is a graph with 16 vertices each
having degree six. Any pair of adjacent vertices or any pair of
nonadjacent vertices have exactly two common neighbours.
Figure 1 below illustrates Shrikhande Graph.
2013 International Conference on Advances in Computing, Communications and Informatics (ICACCI)
10
11
1 2
12
9
8 3
7 4
16 13
6 5
15
14
Fig 1: Shrikhande Graph
Let G be a strongly regular graph with parameter set (n; k;
Ȝ; ȝ) and A be its adjacency matrix. If these parameters have
following values:
k = (n í İ¥n)/2 and / or
Ȝ = (n í 2İ¥n)/4 and / or
ȝ = (n í 2İ¥n)/4 )
where ¦ is േ1.
Then J í 2A will be a regular graphical Hadamard matrix
where J is a unit matrix. The type of this matrix (positive or
negative) depends on ¦ value [23]. Shrikhande Graph has
this property because it is with all the above said parameter set
with ¦ = +1 and n = 16.
With these preliminaries, the proposed algorithm is briefly
given in the next subsection.
B. The algorithm
Algorithm uses the adjacency matrix of Shrikhande
Graph as a private key. Distinct A matrices and corresponding
Hadamard Matrices can be generated by changing vertex
labels in 16! ways. This results in computational difficulty to
crack the code by the intruder as one has to try all the 16!
ways of labeling in order to get the private key. Hadamard
matrices of higher orders which are even multiples of 16 can
be constructed, starting from 16 X 16 matrix, by using
Sylvester Method. It can easily be observed that both encoding
and decoding algorithms are of polynomial time complexity.
Encoding Algorithm:
1. The adjacency matrix of a Shrikhande graph with fixed
labels will be a private key available with both the sender
and the receiver. This is selected from 16! choices.
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2. Generate randomly, a permutation of numbbers 1 to 16. This value for each pixel. The largest JPEG image was of size
permutation vector will be of size 64 bits. 545 X 365 and all the images are withw 0 to 255 RGB values.
The processing is faster as the algorrithm is of polynomial time
3. Obtain new labeling for the Shrikhande grraph, by applying
complexity. The algorithm performss accurately on all images.
the above permutation to the availabble private key
(Adjacency Matrix) and construct the new adjacency matrix
The encoding of GIF images can c be viewed as a cipher
A16 X 16.
n Figure 2(a – b).
images and two of them are given in
4. Construct Hadamard Matrix H16X16 = J16 X 16 – (2 . A16 X 16 )
5. Let the message be a text overr an alphabet
Ȉ ൌ  ሼߪଵ ǡ ߪଶ ǥ ߪଶ௡ ሽ. Without loss of gennerality, it can be
assumed that n is a power of 2, as the text mmessages or RGB
images are taken as binary representaations. Construct
Hadamard matrix of order n, say Hn , from H16 using
Sylvester method.
6. Now consider the 2n × n matrix

Fig 2(a)- Encoding of a GIF Image

C=

Let ci be the ith row of C. Encode the mmessage over the

alphabet Ȉ by substituting any symbol ıi ∈ Ȉ , with ci for
all 1 ” i ” 2n
7. The message encoded as described above,, padded with the
permutation vector will be sent across to tthe receiver.

Decoding Algorithm:
Fig 2 (b) : Encoding of another GIF Image
1. When a sequence of n-vectors is receiveed along with the
permutation, obtain new labeling for the Shrikhande Decoding of the images is correctlly done in all the formats.
graph, by applying the permutation to the available private The original images are given in figures 3- 8(a) and
key (Adjacency Matrix) and constructt new adjacency corresponding decoded images are shown for a comparison in
matrix A16 X 16. figures 3 - 8(b) respectively.
2. Construct the Hadamard Matrices H16, Hn and a matrix C,
as described in the encoding algorithm.
3. Now, decode each of the blocks containiing n symbols, in
the received message, using C. Let v bee any n-vector of
encoded symbols. Search for any row ci oof C that matches
with v in more than n − 1 positions.
4
4. Decode that block of n symbols as ıi . A Assuming that the
message is transmitted with at most n/4 errors [22], this
method results in correct decoding of the m
message. Fig 3(a)

IV. RESULTS

The algorithm is programmed using Matlabb for checking its

performance. Text messages were encodeed and decoded
correctly and the results are not given for breevity. In general,
encoding of Images in GIF format can be ccarried out easily
when compared to JPEG format as JPEG hass RGB values for
each pixel. Among the images used for encrypption, largest GIF
image was of size 650 X 491 and the imagees are with 8-bit
Fig 3(b)

462 2013 International Conference on Advances in Computing, Communications and Informatics (ICACCI)
 Fig 6(a): Defence Image 545 X 365
Fig 4(a) : Satellite Image 650 X 491

Fig 6(b)
Fig 4(b)

Fig 5 (a) 552 X 350

Fig 7(a) 545 X 365

Fig 5(b)
Fig 3 - 5 (a): original images in GIF format
Fig 3 - 5 (b): Decoding of images in figures 3 - 5(aa) respectively Fig 7(b)

2013 International Conference on Advances in Computing, Communications and Informatics (ICACCI) 463
 Fig 8(a) 545 X 365
Fig 10: Histogram of corresponding decoded GIF Image

Fig 8(b)
Fig 6 - 8 (a) original images in JPEG format
Fig 6 - 8 (b): Decryption of images in figures 6 - 8(a) respectively
Fig 11: Histogram of an original JPEG Image

The following histograms show the correspondence

between the original image and the image after
decoding.

Fig 12: Histogram of corresponding decoded JPEG Image

V CONCLUSIONS

Fig 9: Histogram of an original GIF Image The objective of our work is to develop simple and
efficient cryptographic algorithms using the concepts from
Graph Theory. It can easily be verified that both the

464 2013 International Conference on Advances in Computing, Communications and Informatics (ICACCI)
algorithms presented here have polynomial time complexity
and their implementation is simple.
The algorithms use the methodology of Hadamard
coding. But a new approach for the generation of random
Hadamard matrices is proposed. This generation of random
Hadamard matrices out of n! choices for encoding and
decoding, makes the algorithms resistant to attacks as the
intruder has to check all the choices to get the basic graph
labeling. Any other strongly regular graph [24] can also be
considered for the construction of Hadamard matrix if it has
the parameter set as ( n, (n í İ¥n)/2, (n í 2İ¥n)/4, (n í
2İ¥n)/4 ) where n is the number of vertices. Computational
difficulty of cracking the code increases exponentially with
choice of strongly regular graph with larger n.
Video cameras, image scanners, and digital cameras,
computer and mobile phone displays etc use RGB format for
images. Among different image formats, encryption of RGB
images is complicated as each pixel consists of three 8-bit
values. It is observed that the proposed technique does lossless
encryption, decryption and it works faster for RGB and many
other formats.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The first author would like to thank Defence Research and
Development Organization, Government of India, for
sponsoring this research and the authorities of PRIST
University for the support.
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