Homomorphic Encryption and IOT, A comparison
Master of Applied IT
Client company:Fontys Lectoraat
Kevin Vrijsen
Project description
the main research question is: "How can homomorphic encryption be implemented in combination with IOT"
this has been slimmed down to comparison of homomorphic encryption schemes to find out which one is most useful in what case, and why you should or shouldn't use just one scheme
Context
At this point in time the fontys lectorate and partners have no knowledge of homomorphic encryption. Homomorphic encryption is a new method of encrypting data in such a way, which makes it possible to still do computations with said encrypted data. As the technology is still new, and rarely used, we would like to know if it’s possible to implement homomorphic encryption into an IOT ecosystem. And if doing so will have any advantages over not implementing it. this means
they want to know the following:
1. What is homomorphic encryption?
2. Is homomorphic encryption safe to use?
3. Can homomorphic encryption be implemented into IOT?
4. Is there any use in implementing homomorphic encryption into IOT?
5. Is homomorphic encryption efficient enough to be used?
By getting the above questions answered, I hope to improve the IOT security, get a
clear view of what homomorphic encryption is, if homomorphic encryption can be used efficiently, and possibly be one step ahead of competitors.
as for use cases where homomorphic encryption would be useful, it could mostly be of use in the healthcare sector or any other privacy sensitive sector.
Results
Unfortunately, due to some issues during the project, most of the research has gone into trying to understand homomorphic encryption and getting it to work. this resulted in a lack of time, which in turn resulted to the comparison of the schemes not being performed. at the moment, I do have a Demo of a homomorphic encryption scheme running, which is still being improved over time.
About the project group
Kevin is a Bachelor graduate at Fontys, where he studied Infrastructure and Cyber Security. during the project, multiple challenges have been overcome regarding the project and personal learning goals. which eventually ended up to where we are now.