Project description DEENESFRITPL Encrypted data technology for secure electronics Nearly all aspects of daily life rely on electronics, generating enormous amounts of data which are stored encrypted on cloud servers whose security is at best questionable. Computing on encrypted data is a new technology in cryptography, which enables calculations on the data without the need to decrypt them. The EU-funded BELFORT project intends to make this technology feasible from a hardware perspective and in realistic scenarios, providing the best performance and energy balance to run on cloud servers and edge devices within reasonable memory, computation and energy budgets. The project proposes reconfigurable hardware-based acceleration with domain-specific programmable coprocessors that combine energy efficiency and resistance to attacks from classic and quantum computers. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective Electronics are part of all aspects of our daily life, at home, at work, while on the road. Smart cities, medical devices, financial transactions, self-driving cars, all rely on electronics. At the same time, these activities generate huge amounts of data, which for privacy and security reasons, are stored encrypted on a possibly untrusted cloud server. Yet, many applications benefit from operations on this data. Statistics or machine learning on medical, financial, automotive or energy data could discover trends or abuse, could be used to monitor pandemics, to tune supply and demand, and much more. Ideally, the calculations on the data should be done without decrypting them first to avoid data leaks. Computing on encrypted data is the new magic in the field of cryptography: it enables calculations on the encrypted data, while data remains encrypted in the cloud and without the need to decrypt it. The result will only be decrypted by the final recipient. Challenging in these novel mathematical concepts is a gigantic blow-up in the size of ciphertext data, in the amount of calculations on the encrypted data, and in the novel lattice based arithmetic used. The core challenge addressed in BELFORT is to make this new technology feasible from a hardware perspective and in realistic scenarios, providing the best performance/energy balance, for it to run on cloud servers and edge devices, within reasonable memory, computation and energy budgets. We propose reconfigurable hardware-based acceleration with domain-specific programmable co-processors, which combine energy efficiency with domain specific programmability and with resistance to attacks from classic and quantum computers. We will develop multiple new ideas as well as bring them together in an end-to-end demonstrator. The PI has the unique expertise and is a pioneer in translating novel cryptographic algorithms into efficient and secure realizations on a wide range of hardware/software platforms. Fields of science natural sciencescomputer and information sciencescomputer securitycryptographyengineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringcomputer hardwarequantum computersengineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringdigital electronics Keywords secure electronic circuits digital hardware FPGA and ASIC resistance to attacks hardware security evaluation Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-2020-ADG - ERC ADVANCED GRANT Call for proposal ERC-2020-ADG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-ADG - Advanced Grant Host institution KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN Net EU contribution € 2 425 875,00 Address OUDE MARKT 13 3000 Leuven Belgium See on map Region Vlaams Gewest Prov. Vlaams-Brabant Arr. Leuven Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 2 425 875,00 Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN Belgium Net EU contribution € 2 425 875,00 Address OUDE MARKT 13 3000 Leuven See on map Region Vlaams Gewest Prov. Vlaams-Brabant Arr. Leuven Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 2 425 875,00