Storage and Maintenance of Sensitive Data using Homomorphic Encryption
Mazharul Islam, Mubasshir Ahmed, Rajesh Palit · 2023
In today's data-driven world, the storage and maintenance of sensitive information present significant challenges related to privacy and security. Traditional encryption methods provide a robust solution for data protection at rest and in transit. While these encryption techniques are highly effective at ensuring the confidentiality of data at rest and in transit, they present challenges when performing operations on the encrypted data without decrypting it first. This limitation has significant implications for various applications, especially when privacy and security are paramount, raising concerns about data confidentiality during processing. Homomorphic encryption is a groundbreaking cryptographic technique that addresses this limitation by allowing computations on encrypted data without decryption. This paper examines the foundational principles of homomorphic encryption, its mathematical underpinnings, and its applicability in real-world scenarios. The paper also discusses the practical implementation of homomorphic encryption in sensitive data such as academic student records, including its impact on data storage infrastructure key management, emphasizing its role in protecting data privacy, enabling secure data outsourcing, highlighting how it empowers organizations to harness the value of their data without compromising security. By encrypting sensitive data using homomorphic encryption, we achieve a dual goal: data remains confidential even in a breach, and authorized users can perform computations directly on encrypted data, eliminating the need for decryption and minimizing privacy risks.