idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Secure data processing directly in the encrypted domain
Cyberagentur call for tender for direct processing of encrypted data using advanced cryptographic techniques
The Agentur für Innovation in der Cybersicherheit GmbH (Cyberagentur) published a call for proposals on 6th September 2023 to develop advanced cryptographic techniques for direct data-processing in the encrypted domain. The four research topics of the "Encrypted Computing" project are based on findings of last year’s preliminary study.
Currently deployed cryptographic protocols usually enable protection against unauthorised access to private or sensitive data during communication with other parties (data in transit) as well as during storage of this data (data at rest). The classic approach, however, lacks the possibility to further process data in the encrypted domain.
In this call for proposals, the Cyberagentur wants to foster cryptographic concepts such as practical Encrypted Computing (EC) and Privacy-Enhancing Cryptography (PEC) to be researched in more detail. EC/PEC technologies allow data to be processed directly in the encrypted domain (data in use). Decryption for operations in the plaintext domain is only necessary in the last step, if the results are to be viewed by the user. In particular, it is not necessary for the calculations themselves, which means that sensitive and security-critical data can be analysed and kept secret at the same time. Data protection and data use in the cloud are compatible upon performing operations in the encrypted domain.
In the call for proposals, four research topics - Private Set Intersection, Private Data Aggregation, Privacy-Preserving Data Analytics, Privacy-Preserving Machine Learning - will be addressed. These four topics address the different areas of application for advanced cryptographic techniques.
In the preliminary study of the project, it was found that despite great theoretical progress and available frameworks, the designated cryptographic techniques in this field are currently not efficient enough for most real-world applications. Additional requirements can further limit practicality today. These include, for example, verifiable results in outsourced computations, or a protocol’s robustness against corruption of components.
The new call for proposals "Encrypted Computing" is divided into 3 phases. In the first phase, interested parties have two months to develop a basic concept. In this phase, any number of applicants are admitted. The Cyberagentur will select a maximum of the six best from these basic concepts. Afterwards, the selected interested parties have another four months to elaborate on their ideas in a detailed concept. In addition to the content-related topics, the project management of the project will also be checked for comprehensibility over the duration of the project. This phase is already remunerated with a fixed amount. From this maximum of six bidders, up to four participants will be selected, who will then receive four years of funding.
The invitation to tender with the contract number 2023/S 171-537366 was published in the Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union: https://www.evergabe-online.de/tenderdetails.html?0&id=535910.
Further information:
https://www.cyberagentur.de/encrypted-computing/
https://www.cyberagentur.de/encrypted-computing-compass
Contact
Michael Lindner
Press Officer of the Cyberagentur
Phone: +49 151 44150 645
E-mail: presse@cyberagentur.de
Background: Cyberagentur
The Agentur für Innovation in der Cybersicherheit GmbH (Cyberagentur) was founded in 2020 as a fully in-house company of the Federal Government under the joint leadership of the Federal Ministry of Defence and the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Home Affairs with the aim of taking a cross-departmental view of internal and external security in the area of cybersecurity that is related to application strategy. Against this background, the work of the Cyberagentur is primarily aimed at the institutionalised implementation of highly innovative projects that are associated with a high risk with regard to the achievement of objectives, but at the same time can have a very high disruptive potential if they are successful.
The Cyberagentur is part of the National Security Strategy of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The Cyberagentur is headed by Prof. Dr. Christian Hummert as Research Director and Managing Director and Daniel Mayer as Commercial Director.
Dr. Matthias Minihold
https://www.cyberagentur.de/sichere-datenverarbeitung-direkt-in-der-verschluesse...
https://www.cyberagentur.de/encrypted-computing/
https://www.cyberagentur.de/encrypted-computing-compass
With the new research question, the Cyberagentur would like to have the newer cryptographic concepts ...
freepik/Cyberagentur
Cyberagentur
Criteria of this press release:
Business and commerce, Journalists, Scientists and scholars, Students
Economics / business administration, Electrical engineering, Information technology, Mathematics, Physics / astronomy
transregional, national
Contests / awards, Research projects
English
With the new research question, the Cyberagentur would like to have the newer cryptographic concepts ...
freepik/Cyberagentur
Cyberagentur
You can combine search terms with and, or and/or not, e.g. Philo not logy.
You can use brackets to separate combinations from each other, e.g. (Philo not logy) or (Psycho and logy).
Coherent groups of words will be located as complete phrases if you put them into quotation marks, e.g. “Federal Republic of Germany”.
You can also use the advanced search without entering search terms. It will then follow the criteria you have selected (e.g. country or subject area).
If you have not selected any criteria in a given category, the entire category will be searched (e.g. all subject areas or all countries).
