What is homomorphic encryption?
When it comes to maintaining security for your business files, paperwork, and general private information, it should be a major concern for most, if not all businesses. Even if you host your own server and don’t use a public cloud, it can be incredibly beneficial to encrypt your data appropriately. And just like with everything else in the business world, there are many encryption options from which to choose.
Homomorphic encryption can be a great solution for those who store data in a public cloud. This is especially true if your information consists of important numbers, statistics, and mathematical data. In its most basic form, homomorphic encryption converts your data into ciphertext. The difference between homomorhic encryption and other types of encryption is that homomorphic encryption makes the encrypted data accessible and useable even in its encrypted form.
Encrypting professional data
Homomorphic encryption may seem difficult to understand, but it can really be quite a simple concept to grasp. For example, if your data consists of the numbers 2 and 10 and you wanted to encrypt this data homomorphically, you could multiply each number by 5, which will create a whole new set of numbers. This data will still be useable by you and anyone else who knows the key to the homomorphic encryption, but anyone who gets a hold of it would not have access to the correct numbers. The data will be seen as the numbers 10 and 50. However, if the person or business receiving the data knows that it was multiplied by 5, they would know to divide by 5 and get the real data, all while keeping it private.
Homomorphic encryption is a simple solution for many businesses, as it’s easy to understand and utilize. Even so, it may not be the best type of encryption for all business types because many businesses do not have mathematical or number-based private data to store or send to others. When this is the case, other types of encryption are available. If you think homomorphic encryption might be the right fit for your business, the first step is to analyze and identify which parts of your private data need encryption, and then you can move forward from there. With the right type of encryption in place, you can continue on with your professional duties with peace of mind.
