IBM Claims Breakthrough In Analysis of Encrypted Data

An anonymous reader writes "An IBM researcher has solved a thorny mathematical problem that has confounded scientists since the invention of public-key encryption several decades ago. The breakthrough, called 'privacy homomorphism,' or 'fully homomorphic encryption,' makes possible the deep and unlimited analysis of encrypted information — data that has been intentionally scrambled — without sacrificing confidentiality." Reader ElasticVapor writes that the solution IBM claims "might better enable a cloud computing vendor to perform computations on clients' data at their request, such as analyzing sales patterns, without exposing the original data. Other potential applications include enabling filters to identify spam, even in encrypted email, or protecting information contained in electronic medical records."

Comments

Re:First post!

[mcgrew]

I miss metamoderation, where mods with IQs too low to get the joke were weeded out.

THIS comment is offtopic, the parent should be modded "funny" and if metamoderation was like it use to be, the moderation on the parent would be modded "unfair".

Re:Fully homomorphic encryption using ideal lattic

[spiffmastercow]

Abstractly, we accomplish this by enabling the encrypter to start the decryption process, leaving less work for the decrypter, much like the server leaves less work for the decrypter in a server-aided cryptosystem.

Umm... That doesn't ease my concerns about this already disturbing prospect..