Intel partners with Microsoft on DARPA program to advance FHE technology

Currently, traditional encryption protects data while stored or in transmission, but it requires that data be decrypted for processing, making it more vulnerable to misuse. In contrast, fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) enables users to compute on always-encrypted data or cryptograms. The data never needs to be decrypted, reducing the potential for cyberthreats.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has selected Intel as its technology partner for its Data Protection in Virtual Environments (DPRIVE) program that seeks to develop a hardware accelerator for fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) computations that will dramatically speed up FHE calculations compared to software-based approaches and make the technology more accessible.

"We are pleased to be chosen as a technology partner by DARPA and look forward to working with them as well as Microsoft to advance this next chapter in confidential computing and unlock the promise of fully homomorphic encryption for all," said Rosario Cammarota, principal engineer, Intel Labs, and principal investigator, DARPA DPRIVE program.

Currently, traditional encryption protects data while stored or in transmission, but it requires that data be decrypted for processing, making it more vulnerable to misuse. In contrast, fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) enables users to compute on always-encrypted data or cryptograms. The data never needs to be decrypted, reducing the potential for cyberthreats.

According to Intel, FHE, when implemented at scale, would enable healthcare, insurance, finance and other organizations to use techniques, such as machine learning, to extract full value from large datasets while protecting data confidentiality across the data’s life cycle.

The multi-year DARPA DPRIVE program will see multiple Intel designing an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) accelerator to reduce the performance overhead currently associated with FHE, a major factor hindering its widespread adoption in the industry.

As part of the program, Intel will also collaborate with Microsoft, the key cloud ecosystem and homomorphic encryption partner leading the commercial adoption of the technology once developed by testing it in its cloud offerings, including Azure and JEDI cloud, with the U.S. government.

We are pleased to bring our expertise in cloud computing and homomorphic encryption to the DARPA DPRIVE program, collaborating with Intel to advance this transformative technology when ready into commercial usages that will help our customers close the last-mile gap in data confidentiality - keeping data fully secure and private, whether in storage, transit or use,” said Dr William Chappell, chief technology officer, Azure Global, and vice president, Mission Systems, Microsoft.