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This project offers a novel solution to common security
and privacy problems such as:
· How can we build secure and privacy preserving
clouds?
· How can computers work on encrypted data?
· How can I prevent Google from seeing my emails?
· How can I prevent Apple from seeing my iCloud
pictures?
· How can a computer run my code without seeing my
program or my data?
Research of the issue
The Garbled Computer: Towards Computing
without Seeing
By Qutaibah Malluhi
Our increased reliance on the cyber infrastructure has, without a doubt, made
cyber security a top priority worldwide. Recent high-profile breaches, the blockade
against Qatar, and the determination to protect Qatar’s valuable physical
infrastructure has made cyber security a national security issue, and a main grand
challenge for the country.
This project develops a new secure computer model called the Garbled
Computer (GC). The project develops novel technologies that tackle challenging cyber
security concerns through enabling a new model for secure storage and computation
that considers the host machine untrusted. Traditional security models and approaches
that are based on the assumption that the operating system and the application are
trusted are no longer valid. The proliferation of cloud services is making that model
less realistic. Moreover, the operating system and applications are vulnerable because
they expose a large attack surface. Furthermore, in today’s hostile cyber environment,
the operating system and applications can themselves be the source of an attack. In this
project, our model is quite different as we consider the host machine as well as the
operating system untrusted.
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