Lessons from Using Fully homomorphic encryption to Build a Secure Consumer App
17 days ago
- #Cryptography
- #Technology
- #Privacy
- Fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) allows computation over encrypted data, enhancing privacy and security.
- FHE has improved significantly, with scalable platforms and major companies like Google and Apple adopting it.
- Key management on mobile is efficient, utilizing secure enclaves like iOS Keychain for a better user experience.
- Performance with FHE is now sufficient for most apps, with potential improvements through GPU acceleration.
- Encrypted data sizes are large, increasing storage costs and requiring high-capacity infrastructure.
- Good UI/UX with FHE is possible, balancing usability friction with security benefits.
- Hardware acceleration, like FPGA-based solutions, significantly speeds up FHE computations.
- Coding for FHE requires a mental adjustment, with logic expressed differently under encryption.
- Vendor lock-in is currently an issue due to varying FHE schemes and library implementations.
- Analyzing aggregated data from multiple users with pure FHE is challenging, requiring combinations with MPC and TEEs.
- FHE should focus on consumer apps, with potential benefits for messaging, health, and productivity apps.