Intel, DARPA Collab Develops Stronger Cloud Encryption—How FHE Works

Intel decided to work with the U.S. government's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Their collaboration is expected to bring stronger Cloud encryption. The chip giant manufacturer already signed an agreement with DARPA to join its Data Protection in Virtual Environments (DPRIVE) program.

Aside from Intel, DARPA also coordinated with Microsoft to make the new project a possibility. According to TechRadar's latest report, the new collaboration of the mentioned companies is expected to develop an accelerator for fully homomorphic encryption or FHE.

Extreme Tech reported that all encryption schemes currently have the same weakness, which is decryption. Security researchers explained that encryption services will only be useful if the users or developers will decrypt them. This method opens various encrypted files, making them vulnerable to different online attacks. Once FHE is developed, this issue will no longer be a problem.

How Intel's Upcoming FHE Works

FHE works by enabling encrypted data to be processed without the need for the decryption process. This new technology is considered a type of cryptographic "Holy Grail." As of the moment, FHE's current implementation methods are completely relying on software execution, which makes it slow and impractical to use.

Once Intel, Microsoft, and DARPA completed this new technology, it will fully rely on hardware, making it more accurate and quicker than the previous versions. Aside from Intel and Microsoft, DARPA also decided to work with Duality Technologies, SRI International, and Galois to make the new hardware that could compete with the processing speed of unencrypted algorithms.

DARPA also tasked all the companies and agencies involved in the current project to evaluate different word sizes rather than sticking to the 64-bit words common in modern computing.

What Is Intel's Plan?

Intel wants to develop an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) to address it. This innovation is a great addition to its implementation of FHE on Intel FPGAs. On the other hand, DARPA's latest program will span several phases beginning with the development, verification, and design of the upcoming FHE hardware. You can click here for more details.