3 ms·

Show HN: A key-value store built with homomorphic encryption

22 points by akane 6y ago

gigatexal 6y ago
Should not be considered secure, only for research. Dang it. The premise sounded really cool!
- ficklepickle 6y ago
  Here are details about security from HElib[0], the library used by this project. The premise of HE is really cool. I think it's just early days yet. [0] https://github.com/homenc/HElib/blob/master/CKKS-security.md https://github.com/homenc/HElib/blob/master/CKKS-security.md
a3camero 6y ago
Neat idea.
oersted 6y ago
O(N) to get a key-value (N being the total number of keys) kind of defeats the purpose of a database. Couldn't you just use a file with (normally) encrypted keys and values? I'm probably slightly misunderstanding the premise of this project.
- ficklepickle 6y ago
  Non-cryptographer here, but I think homomorphic encryption is fascinating. IIRC, it allows a user to perform operations on encrypted data, without being able to decrypt the original data. I see it as the holy grail of data anonymization and I understand it to be cutting edge stuff. I'm sure someone will correct me soon :)
- akane 6y ago
  I mainly thought it was neat there's a way to do matching on encrypted data without deterministic encryption. It's based on this example - https://github.com/homenc/HElib/tree/master/examples/BGV_country_db_lookup https://github.com/homenc/HElib/tree/master/examples/BGV_cou... - which explains more about how it works and why it's O(N).
annguyenfoss 6y ago
Ankane should stop building non-sense, half-assed open source tools that serve no good purpose..
alexmingoia 6y ago
What unique abilities does homomorphic encryption provide here? Ciphertext can be used for keys or values in a normal key-value store...
- akane 6y ago
  Homomorphic encryption reveals less information to the server about the query than if you were to encrypt keys (with deterministic encryption) and values. It hides the fact that the same query was run multiple times and which key (if any) was matched.

22 points by akane 6y ago

gigatexal 6y ago

Should not be considered secure, only for research. Dang it. The premise sounded really cool!

ficklepickle 6y ago
Here are details about security from HElib[0], the library used by this project. The premise of HE is really cool. I think it's just early days yet. [0] https://github.com/homenc/HElib/blob/master/CKKS-security.md https://github.com/homenc/HElib/blob/master/CKKS-security.md

a3camero 6y ago

Neat idea.

oersted 6y ago

O(N) to get a key-value (N being the total number of keys) kind of defeats the purpose of a database. Couldn't you just use a file with (normally) encrypted keys and values? I'm probably slightly misunderstanding the premise of this project.

ficklepickle 6y ago
Non-cryptographer here, but I think homomorphic encryption is fascinating. IIRC, it allows a user to perform operations on encrypted data, without being able to decrypt the original data. I see it as the holy grail of data anonymization and I understand it to be cutting edge stuff. I'm sure someone will correct me soon :)
akane 6y ago
I mainly thought it was neat there's a way to do matching on encrypted data without deterministic encryption. It's based on this example - https://github.com/homenc/HElib/tree/master/examples/BGV_country_db_lookup https://github.com/homenc/HElib/tree/master/examples/BGV_cou... - which explains more about how it works and why it's O(N).

annguyenfoss 6y ago

Ankane should stop building non-sense, half-assed open source tools that serve no good purpose..

alexmingoia 6y ago

What unique abilities does homomorphic encryption provide here? Ciphertext can be used for keys or values in a normal key-value store...

akane 6y ago
Homomorphic encryption reveals less information to the server about the query than if you were to encrypt keys (with deterministic encryption) and values. It hides the fact that the same query was run multiple times and which key (if any) was matched.