The Road Less Travelled: Use-cases, Challenges, and Solutions of Homomorphic Encryption

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Presented at LASCON2018 2018 by

Trupti Shiralkar

In this hyper-connected and data-driven world, information can be highly valuable. User data can be collected and analyzed using machine learning techniques to create a superior customer experience. There is a tension between the benefits of digital freedom and privacy. Striking a careful and unique balance between privacy and security of user data can be challenging. In this asymmetric battle, are there techniques that help to protect the privacy of user data while benefiting from the results of collected data analysis? The answer is Yes. Homomorphic encryption may be an effective mechanism to protect both privacy and confidentiality of the data at the same time by enabling computation on encrypted data.The concept of homomorphic encryption has been around in theory since the RSA algorithm was published in 1978. Recent research shows promising applications of this mathematical invention. The presentation provides an overview of homomorphic encryption and how it can be used to perform computations while helping to preserve privacy. The speaker will also discuss a few use-cases of differential privacy, homomorphic encryption and security implications associated with them.The target audience for this talk is security engineers, privacy advocates, software development engineers and managers, technical program managers and anyone who is involved in protecting privacy. The attendees will walk away with a general understanding of this topic and its usage and a framework to mitigate challenges.