IBM Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE)

2020: Release of the program

At the beginning of June, 2020 IBM released the new tool which should facilitate work with an encryption system of Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) and finally help to include it in the created products.

The FHE system developed by IBM in 2009 allows to analyze data, saving them in encrypted form, however long time this technology remained too difficult that interfered with its mass use. New developments of IBM should change a situation. Tools are already available to MacOS and iOS in GitHub, and the company is going to add shortly tools for Linux and Android.

IBM released the tool saving data encryption even during their use

If we are able to execute calculations with the ciphered data, we will be able to solve this old paradox of data protection, - the FHE developer and the researcher of IBM Flavio Bergamaschi explained to journalists. - The new technology practically permits data processing without gaining access to them. It is absolutely new security level.

According to Bergamaski, FHE especially well is suitable for the industries with tough regulation, such as finance and health care. But without watching the huge potential of technology, it requires significant changes of the existing security paradigm. Usually in applications data remain deciphered, Bergamaski explained. But when using FHE in it there is no need, so, some functions and transactions will change.

Bergamaski outlined in general four options of use of FHE. First, the technology can be applied to accomplishment of the requests which are not opening intention of the user. FHE can be also used for data processing on intersection of several areas and provide safe outsourcing. Besides, the technology was successfully tested for creation of forecasts for private data.^[1]

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