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They are two very different things. E2E is a term that dictates that when I send information, only the intented reciepient can decrypt it, under the assumption
by hvidgaard 10y ago
They are two very different things.
E2E is a term that dictates that when I send information, only the intented reciepient can decrypt it, under the assumption that the keys are safe.
Zero knowledge proofs is a constuct where I can prove something to you, without leaking any information. For instance, you want to buy a house, but before the seller wants to sign, he wants proof that you can actually pay x $ in down payment. Traditionally you would go down to your bank, get a piece of paper stating that you have x $ locked and only usable for this purchage for the next 60 days. It doesn't say how much you have in your account, where the money is from or anything else. A zero knowledge proof is the same, just digital.
E2E would not help here, because it doesn't prove anything, it's just a term about the comunication being safe.
- homakov 10y agoI know what you mean, ZK as in password auth. Then why in the first place encrypted storage was called zero knowledge? Complete misuse of the term.
- hvidgaard 10y agoNot really. My example could just as well be done with any public key crypto system. If you want better examples, see the SO post https://mathoverflow.net/questions/22624/example-of-a-good-zero-knowledge-proof https://mathoverflow.net/questions/22624/example-of-a-good-z... But misuse of the term is most likely just because they didn't understand it in the first place. It is well defined, but rather abstract.
- floatboth 10y agoBecause if you encrypt data before uploading it to a server, the server has no (zero) knowledge about what that data is?
- homakov 10y agoBest explanation https://paragonie.com/blog/2016/08/crypto-misnomers-zero-knowledge-considered-self-descriptive https://paragonie.com/blog/2016/08/crypto-misnomers-zero-kno...