News blog

See Sharemind at PAKDD/PAISI 2012 and at the CFEM workshop

If you're interested in trying out the new Sharemind SDK v2012.04 in practice (or see a few demos), then we have two excellent opportunities lined up for you.

First - there will be a demonstration of Sharemind in the PAKDD 2012 conference on Wednesday, May 30th 7 PM (at the reception). Dan Bogdanov will be presenting the tools and answering any question you may have. Also - do not miss Dan's talk on secure data mining with Sharemind on Tuesday at the PAISI 2012 workshop. 

Second - several members of the Sharemind team will be present in the CFEM Workshop on the Theory and Practice of Multiparty Computation. Also, look out for Dan's talk on the latest development in Sharemind on Thursday, June 7th.

Looking forward to seeing you in Kuala Lumpur and in Aarhus!

Build secure data analysis tools with the new Sharemind SDK!

We have released a new version of the Sharemind SDK. The 2012.04 version comes with a completely rewritten SecreCIDE tool and a controller library for building custom client applications.

The controller library lets you to build client applications for entering data or presenting the results of secure computation. With the previous SDK, you could only work on data given in function parameters or in an existing database. With the new controller library, you can create tools for importing the analysis data into the Sharemind database.

Here are the links for the new release and tutorials:

  1. Sharemind SDK 2012.04
  2. Tutorial: Getting started with Sharemind SDK
  3. Tutorial: Creating applications with the Sharemind SDK
  4. Tutorial: SDK example: solving the millionaires' problem

Please let us know of what applications you are building or if you require any help with using the tools.

Read on for the full release notes.

Release notes for 2.1

Controller library

New! We packaged the Sharemind controller library with the SDK so you can create custom applications for data entry and analysis. We have also posted example tutorials on how to use this feature. The controller library is for Sharemind 2.1 (see below).

SecreCIDE

  • New code editor with resizable font size, better syntax highlighting etc.
  • Updated search and replace system.
  • Better file and project management. For example, it is possible to create new files in the project, add existing files to the project and much more.
  • Recent projects tracking. 
  • SecreCIDE file dialogs remember the last used folders. 
  • SecreCIDE can detect files that have been changed and will suggest reloads. 
  • Single SecreC files can now be compiled. 
  • There is a button for switching between SecreC source and assembly (you can also press F4). 
  • There is a combo box for selecting open files. 
  • Fixed many possible crashes. 
  • New icons and a logo. 

DevMiner

  • Upgraded to use Sharemind 2.1 (see below).
  • New icons and a logo.

Sharemind 2.1 and SecreC

  • Optimizations were made in the assembly interpreter. It is now faster.
  • Added dbGetRow and stack_dbPushRow functions to SecreC.
  • Fixed some matrix operation bugs in the SecreC compiler.
  • Added support for NoSQL (Tokyo Cabinet) and ODBC databases to the miner server. Note that this is not currently available in DevMiner.
  • Added a benchmark for public multiplications to OperationBenchmark and the profiling system. 
  • Fixed public division benchmarking. 
  • Other small fixes for efficiency. 

Applications

  • Added example code showing the use of the controller library. 
  • The demo application has been updated. 

Known issues

  • The SecreCIDE documentation is still incomplete.

Sharemind makes business data mining secure

Sharemind has now been used for over a year in a practical application. The Estonian Association of ICT companies (ITL) has been using Sharemind to jointly analyze their economic performance.

This week, a paper describing the application and user feedback was presented in the Sixteenth International Conference on Financial Cryptography and Data Security 2012. Dan and Riivo are on location and happy to answer your questions about Sharemind.

The full version of paper describing the application can be found on ePrint.

Feel free to contact us for more information or if you want to use Sharemind for a similar application.

A video explanation of Sharemind at TEDxTartu

Dan Bogdanov gave a talk at the TEDxTartu conference in November 2011, explaining the principles between Sharemind. The talk was broadcast on the ETV2 channel. The programme also includes an interview with Dan on education and the success of Estonian e-services.

ETV2 has the video available here.

Meet us at EUROCRYPT 2011

Sharemind has a stand in the EUROCRYPT 2011 conference. If you are attending, feel free to come ask us about our recent successes in applications and collaboration opportunities. The stand should be manned at most hours.

Estonian company Cybernetica develops secure data computation technology for U.S. Government

Cybernetica press release

May 6th, 2011

Cybernetica, a research and development company based on Estonian capital, secured a  research contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). DARPA is an R&D project management agency that was founded by the United States Department of Defense with the mission to maintain the technological superiority of the United States military. DARPA sponsors revolutionary high-payoff research, bridging the gap between fundamental discoveries and their military use.

Under this arrangement, Cybernetica further develops its secure data processing technology for the U.S. Government. In addition to Cybernetica, several participants from the international defense industry and global leading universities are involved in the project.

"Our system protects the confidentiality of the collected data from the processing institution. The solution has a wide range of implementation possibilities in the private sector - in auctioning systems, commodity exchanges, health services. It is useful whenever different parties have an interest in combining and aggregating shared sensitive data but wish to keep the individual records secret," commented Cybernetica's researcher Dan Bogdanov.

The system developed by Cybernetica allows organizations to create and analyze combined databases. Users can input their data and the system guarantees that no one other than the person providing the input has access to the data values. However, the data can be used for data analysis and aggregation tasks.

"This will open up a broad range of new opportunities and application possibilities. Due to confidentiality issues, different companies have not been able to process each others data, even if it served a common good. This kind of sharing requires a company to give data access to other companies and, hence, an easy opportunity to abuse the data and the results. Our technology provides an innovative solution for applications where sensitive data is involved," explained Bogdanov.

Cybernetica is the first Estonian company to secure a research contract with the agency of the U.S. Department of Defense. Cybernetica's management sees co-operation as the key to its success. "Advancing from basic research to applications demands a sustained effort and a conscious contribution of significant resources. In developing our technology we have been co-operating successfully with the Institute of Computer Science at the University of Tartu , the Center of Excellence in Computer Science and the Software Technology and Applications Competence Center," commented Peeter Laud, the research director of Cybernetica.  

Cybernetica is an R&D company based on Estonian capital. With more than a hundred employees, its primary mission is to develop knowledge-based and globally competitive IT products and services in the fields of information security, information and visual navigation systems and radio communication systems.

Additional information:

Dan Bogdanov
Cybernetica researcher

phone +372 52 75 525
e-mail
dan@cyber.ee

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