Table of contents
Definition
Homomorphic encryption is a type of encryption that lets you perform calculations on data while it is still encrypted. Normally, if you want to do anything with encrypted data, you first have to decrypt it, which can expose sensitive information.
With homomorphic encryption, you can keep the data hidden (encrypted) while still performing operations like adding, multiplying, or searching. After the computation, you can decrypt the result, and it will be as if you had worked with the unencrypted data.
Use Case or Examples
One common use case for homomorphic encryption is cloud computing. Many companies store data in the cloud, but they don't want to expose this data to the cloud provider. Homomorphic encryption solves this problem by allowing the company to send encrypted data to the cloud, where the provider can perform computations without decrypting the data. The results are then sent back to the company, which decrypts them. This way, the companyβs sensitive data remains private throughout the process.
A hypothetical example is hosted code repositories like GitHub [β] and BitBucket [β], where encrypted codebases can only be decrypted and viewed on the userβs machine with their private key. In this scenario, the code hosting service requests specific information, like the programming languages used and necessary metadata, but nothing beyond that. Since the code is encrypted and the service only asks for essential data, the user knows exactly what is shared, ensuring the codebase remains private. The user can decide in advance what information to share, and the tools handle everything else.Although not exactly based on homomorphic encryption, You get similar benefits.
Conclusion
Homomorphic encryption enables secure calculations on encrypted data, protecting privacy while still allowing useful operations.
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