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IBM Launches Test Service Using 'Holy Grail' of Data Privacy Technology

The privacy technology, called fully homomorphic encryption, keeps data hidden even when being processed.

IBM

Tech giant IBM announced a trial service for a privacy tech called fully homomorphic encryption (FHE), designed to vastly reduce the likelihood of sensitive data being exposed.

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  • FHE is an emerging technology – often described as the "holy grail" of encryption – designed to allow data to stay encrypted when being processed or analyzed in cloud or third-party environments.
  • IBM said last week its new service, developed in-house, will allow clients to start experimenting with technology to improve the privacy of their internal IT architectures.
  • “While current encryption techniques allow data to be protected during storage and in transit, data must be decrypted while it is being processed or analyzed – creating a window of opportunity where data is more vulnerable to theft or exposure,” said IBM.
  • Data leaks have become a major issue for enterprises. One making headlines this week saw personal details of clients of cryptocurrency hardware wallet maker Ledger exposed on an online forum.
  • Research and advisory company, Gartner predicts that by 2025 at least 20% of businesses will be budgeting for programs that require homomorphic encryption, up from less than 1% currently.

Also see: Why Ledger Kept All That Customer Data in the First Place

Tanzeel Akhtar

Tanzeel Akhtar has contributed to The Wall Street Journal, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Forbes Africa, Financial Times, The Street, Citywire, Investing.com, Euromoney, Yahoo! Finance, Benzinga, Kitco News, African Business Magazine, Hedge Week, Campden Family Office, Modern Investor, Spear's Wealth Management Magazine, Global Investor, ETF.com, ETF Stream, CIO UK, Funds Global Asia, Portfolio Institutional, Interactive Investor, Bitcoin Magazine, CryptoNews.com, Bitcoin.com, The Local, The Next Web, Mining Journal, Money Marketing, Marketing Week and more. Tanzeel trained as a foreign correspondent at the University of Helsinki, Finland and newspaper journalist at the University of Central Lancashire, UK. She holds a BA (Honours) in English Literature from the Manchester Metropolitan University, UK and completed a semester abroad as an ERASMUS student at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. She is NCTJ Qualified - Media Law, Public Administration and passed the Shorthand 100WPM with distinction. She does not currently hold value in any digital currencies or projects.

Tanzeel Akhtar