Most people with smartphones use a range of applications that collect personal information and store it on Internet-connected servers . And, they use similar application s from their Laptop and Desktop also. Some use still other Internet-connected devices, such as thermostats or fitness monitors, that also store personal data online.
Generally, users have no idea which data items their apps are collecting, where they’re stored, and whether they’re stored securely. Researchers at MIT and Harvard University hope to change that, with an application they’re calling Sieve.
With Sieve, a Web user would store all of his or her personal data, in encrypted form, on the cloud. Any app that wanted to use specific data items would send a request to the user and receive a secret key that decrypted only those items. If the user wanted to revoke the app’s access, Sieve would re-encrypt the data with a new key.
Sieve required the researchers to develop practical versions of two cutting-edge cryptographic techniques called attribute-based encryption and key homomorphism
Privacy and security are becoming important, the debate between Apple’s iPhone encryption and the FBI proves that. This new Cryptographic system would help to address privacy and security issues.
