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

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.

• 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