This week in the Encrypted Economy explore the foundations of how the ability to secure data fundamentally changes the very economics of our society and the business, legal and technical forces shaping that. To some, introducing concepts like Secure Multi Party Computations and Homomorphic Encryption sounds like it is simply academic research or just asecurity discussion...but its so much more. Both of these terms relate to the ability to secure processing of data BY DESIGN and that opens up a whole world of WHAT we can do with that data. Once you understand this, you can see that what we are really talking about are truly transformative forces for our society. 

We were really excited to have Brett Hemenway Falk, a leading expert in applied cryptology from the University of Pennsylvania on the podcast. We began with the basics of cryptography and privacy-preserving computations, thendelved into practical applications that will shape the future of secure computing. From banks sharing security secrets, to de-centralized social science research, to underwriting satellite collisions.  I know that you will learn just as much as I did, which is why I am excited to share this latest episode of the Encrypted Economy. Be sure to keep an eye on Brett’s continued work in this areaand stay tuned for more great content from the Encrypted Economy. 

Topics Covered 

• Brett’s Background 
• Symmetric vs Asymmetric Cryptography  
• Zero Knowledge Proofs 
• Homomorphic Encryption 
• What keeps it from being viable? 
• How is it being used right now? 
• Secure Multiparty Computation (MPC) 
• What is it? 
• Finance Applications 
• Healthcare Applications 
• Social Science Applications 
• Competitors Collaborating Through MPC 
• Blockchain Privacy 
• Blockchain Oracles 
• The Costs and Benefits of Decentralization 
• Smart Contracts 
• Secret Sharing Among Distributed Servers 
• Collusion Resistance 
• Password Hashing

Resource Links 

• Brett’s UPenn Website 
• Brett’s Publications 
• Brett on Appetite For Disruption Part 1 & Part 2 
• My article on Homomorphic Encryption 
• Highlighted Homomorphic Encryption Libraries 
• IBM- HElib 
• Microsoft - Seal Library 
• Duality – Palisade Library 
• Inpher - TFHE 
• Stealth Software Website 
• Unbound Technology Website