0x0b / 0x0eHow do I compute on, query or share data without revealing it?
Privacy-Enhancing Cryptography
Fully homomorphic encryption, multi-party computation, private information retrieval, private set intersection, threshold signatures and the primitives underneath them. Math instead of trust.
Start here
Authenticated Data Structures
Explainer
Fully Homomorphic Encryption
Explainer
Map: Composing Primitives
Map
Multi-Party Computation
Explainer
Usable
Oblivious RAM
Explainer
Research
PIR Use Cases and Deployments
Explainer
Usable
Private Information Retrieval
Explainer
Private Set Intersection
Explainer
Threshold Signatures
Explainer
Verifiable Delay Functions (VDFs)
Explainer
Verifiable Random Functions (VRFs)
Explainer
Usable
Guides
Encrypting Files, Disks and BackupsEncryption at rest is what stands between a seized or stolen device and everything on it.
beginner
1 hour
Private File Sync and BackupMaintain useful working copies, limit what a remote storage host can read, and preserve a way back from mistakes.
intermediate
None
Verify software before installing itConfirm who signed the bytes you will run, then ask whether those bytes can be rebuilt from the published source.
intermediate
None
Technologies
age: Modern File Encryptionalso in opsec
Deep dive
✓ Battle-tested
Moneroalso in money
Deep dive
✓ Battle-tested
The OpenPGP Web of Trustalso in identity
Deep dive
✓ Battle-tested
Biscuit authorization tokensalso in identity
Deep dive
Usable
drand and tlock
Deep dive
Usable
Fedimintalso in money
Deep dive
Usable
Magic Wormholealso in storage
Deep dive
Usable
OPAQUE and PAKEs
Deep dive
Usable
BBS+ Signatures
Deep dive
Experimental
FHE Bootstrapping and Verification
Deep dive
Research
PIR Research Frontier
Deep dive
Research
SimplePIR and DoublePIR
Deep dive
Research
Reference and research
Directory78 curated links
FHE: Research
- Full Homomorphic Encryption resources — tons of FHE resources
- Dark market implementation with FHE
- IBM Research FHE — IBM's comprehensive resource on Fully Homomorphic Encryption, addressing the security gap when processing data. Their implementation provides security and privacy for data at rest, in transit, and during processing. IBM's work builds on Craig Gentry's groundbreaking 2009 research that introduced the first plausible fully homomorphic scheme.
- Homomorphic Encryption at Scale — Florida Atlantic University's project exploring advancements in FHE, focusing on overcoming computational inefficiency challenges. Their research team has implemented bootstrapping techniques to reduce noise and incorporated parallel processing to enhance function optimization, particularly for linear regression models.
- CRYPTML — A hybrid machine learning model using homomorphic encryption developed at HES-SO. This project explores a hybrid client-server architecture enabling machine learning computation on encrypted data, addressing the challenges of preserving privacy in AI applications.
FHE: Libraries and Tools
- google/heir — A compiler for homomorphic encryption from Google, enabling automatic compilation of programs to work on encrypted data
- OpenFHE — A comprehensive open-source FHE software library incorporating design ideas from prior FHE projects like PALISADE, HElib, and HEAAN. OpenFHE includes features like automatic maintenance operations and hardware acceleration support through a standard Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL).
- OpenFHE v2.0 — Major December 2025 update with improved performance and new features (ACM TOPS 2025)
- TFHE Library by Inpher — One of the world's fastest open-source Fully Homomorphic Encryption libraries, maintained by Inpher's team with contributions from leading universities and privacy-first enterprises worldwide. The library implements the scheme described in the best paper from IACR's Asiacrypt 2016 conference.
- TenSEAL — A practical FHE library for Python that allows performing both addition and multiplication on encrypted data. Unlike partially homomorphic encryption algorithms like RSA, ElGamal, or Paillier, TenSEAL offers fully homomorphic capabilities for real-world applications.
- PostgreSQL Fully Homomorphic Encryption
- The Transparent data encryption in PostgreSQL - Highgo Software Inc.
- tfhe-rs — TFHE-rs: A Pure Rust implementation of the TFHE Scheme for Boolean and Integer Arithmetics Over Encrypted Data.
- wgxli/simple-fhe — A dead-simple library for full homomorphic encryption (FHE) in Python
- hung-ngm/fhe-darkpool — Test implementation of dark pool using Full Homomorphic Encryption (FHE)
- FeanorTheElf/fheanor — A modular library for designing and optimising homomorphic encryption schemes
- cipherflow-fhe/latti-ai — Framework for performing AI model inference on encrypted data using FHE
- danieleschmidt/homomorphic-llm-proxy — GPU-accelerated gateway for FHE of LLM inference — process prompts on untrusted cloud infrastructure while maintaining complete privacy
- Lattigo — Open-source lattice-based homomorphic encryption library in Go, maintained by Tune Insight (originally EPFL)
- OpenFHE — Comprehensive open-source FHE library supporting all major schemes (BGV, BFV, CKKS, FHEW, TFHE) with hardware acceleration HAL
- Fhenix Confidential Contracts — Solidity smart contracts for confidential ERC-20 tokens using FHE on the Fhenix L2 network
FHE: FHE Ecosystem Updates
- Zama at FHE.org 2026: Eight Contributions from Taipei — New sorting-based techniques for faster TFHE deployments
- FHE.org 2026 Taipei — 5th Annual FHE conference colocated with Real World Crypto 2026
- Zama FHE Technology Enables Private Computation — Institutional adoption in 2026, confidential smart contracts in Solidity
- Mind Network FHE A2A — First FHE-based A2A privacy solution with x402 protocol
- Inco Network — Confidentiality-as-a-service using Zama's fhEVM for existing chains
- OpenZeppelin Zama Networks — OpenZeppelin audited smart contracts for Zama FHEVM
- Zama T-REX Ledger Integration — FHE-powered RWA tokenization for institutional finance
- Zama $57M Series B — Zama raised $57M B轮融资,估值超过$1B for FHE区块链应用
- Zama Confidential Blockchain Protocol — Mainnet launch December 2025 for confidential smart contracts on any L1/L2
- Zama Confidential USDT Transfers — First confidential USDT transfers on mainnet
- ZAMA Token Launch — ZAMA token launched February 2026 for protocol fees, staking, and operator incentives
MPC: MPC Overviews
- A Pragmatic Introduction to Secure Multi-Party Computation — Free book introducing secure computation protocols and applications
- awesome-mpc — Curated list of MPC software, papers, tutorials, and workshops
- MPC Deployments — UC Berkeley hub for real-world secure multi-party computation deployments
MPC: MPC Frameworks
- MP-SPDZ — Versatile framework for benchmarking MPC protocols across honest/dishonest majority and active/passive security models
- EMP Toolkit — Global-scale secure multi-party computation toolkit in C++
- CrypTen — PyTorch-based research framework for secure and privacy-preserving machine learning with MPC
- SCALE-MAMBA — MPC system supporting SPDZ-family protocols and malicious-security settings
- FRESCO — Java framework for efficient secure computation applications and protocol suites
- ABY — Mixed-protocol secure two-party computation framework combining arithmetic sharing, Boolean sharing, and Yao circuits
- MOTION — C++ framework for mixed-protocol MPC with GMW, BMR, arithmetic sharing, and OT-based protocols
MPC: MPC Applications
- TLSNotary — MPC-based protocol for proving facts about HTTPS sessions without revealing private data
- PSE MPC Framework — TypeScript framework and demos for MPC-powered applications (sunset but useful reference)
- Trinity — Two-party computation design combining laconic OT, garbled circuits, and PLONK
PIR: Implementations
- FastPIR — An efficient computational private information retrieval (CPIR) library in C++
- SimplePIR — One Server for the Price of Two: Simple and Fast Single-Server Private Information Retrieval
- private-search — Private Web Search for Local LLMs
- secretflow/psi — Private Set Intersection (PSI) and Private Information Retrieval (PIR) from SecretFlow
- vt-asaplab/pirex — Client-Efficient Private Information Retrieval (PETS 2025)
- ahenzinger/finite-diffs-pir — Reference PIR implementation: two-server PIR in sublinear time and quasilinear space (EUROCRYPT 2026)
- google/private-retrieval — Google C++ PIR library using SHELL homomorphic encryption components
- OpenMined/PIR — OpenMined private information retrieval protocol implementations across shared project requirements
- microsoft/SealPIR — Research implementation of SealPIR with low communication costs using Microsoft SEAL
- XPIR — Ring-LWE computational PIR library from the POPETS 2016 XPIR paper
- Onion-PIR — Lattice-based single-server PIR composing two SHE schemes for smaller replies
- PIR-PIXR/CPIR — Reference code for committed private information retrieval
- ChalametPIR — Stateful single-server keyword PIR scheme built on top of FrodoPIR
PIR: Academic Papers and Surveys
- IM-PIR: In-Memory Private Information Retrieval — PIM-based multi-server PIR with 3.7x query throughput improvement
- Communication-Efficient Single-Server PIR — VIA scheme eliminating offline communication with Oλ(log N) online cost
- Efficient Batch Symmetric Private Information Retrieval from PSI — SPIR variant with database privacy beyond retrieved entry
- Spiral: Fast, High-Rate Single-Server PIR via FHE Composition
- Private Information Retrieval and Its Applications: An Introduction — A 2023 paper introducing PIR fundamentals, variants, and discussing conceptual extensions and potential research directions
- A Survey of Single-Database PIR: Techniques and Applications — This paper surveys Single-Database PIR techniques, exploring connections to other cryptographic primitives like collision-resistant hash functions and oblivious transfer
- A Survey on Private Information Retrieval — A comprehensive survey by William Gasarch exploring different PIR models including multiple non-communicating databases and computationally bounded single databases
- A survey on single server PIR in a coding theory perspective — Presents a new perspective on single server PIR schemes using linear error-correcting codes
- On the Computational Practicality of Private Information Retrieval — Explores the practical limits of single-server computational PIR for preserving client access patterns
- Committed Private Information Retrieval — A 2023 paper proposing a generic construction combining linear map commitment and linear PIR schemes to produce verifiable PIR
- Private Information Retrieval with Access Control — Presents Pirac, a novel framework for access control in PIR that restricts database record access to authorized users while maintaining privacy
- Piano: Extremely Simple, Single-Server PIR — A 2024 article describing a simple approach to single-server Private Information Retrieval
- Private Information Retrieval in Large Scale Data Repositories — A tutorial addressing how clients can privately retrieve values corresponding to given keys or locations in large public data repositories
- Private Web Search with Tiptoe — Privacy-preserving web search using PIR techniques
- GPIR: Enabling Practical PIR with GPUs — GPU-accelerated private information retrieval achieving practical performance (2026)
- Mk-PIR: Multi-Keyword Private Information Retrieval — Enables private conjunctive queries with multiple keywords (IACR 2025)
- Incremental Single-Server PIR — Extends incremental preprocessing to single-server PIR for efficient updates (2026)
- NewtonPIR: Communication Efficient Single-Server PIR — PETS 2025 paper on efficient single-server PIR
Access-pattern Privacy
- Path ORAM — Stefanov and colleagues' oblivious read/write storage construction
Threshold beacons and timed release
- drand tlock — Timelock encryption using future signatures from a threshold randomness beacon
Briefings6 latest
PIR Wednesday — October 14 2026 Weekly Update2026-10-14
2026-10-14
PIR Wednesday — October 07 2026 Weekly Update2026-10-07
2026-10-07
PIR Wednesday — September 30 2026 Weekly Update2026-09-30
2026-09-30
PIR Wednesday — September 23 2026 Weekly Update2026-09-23
2026-09-23
PIR Wednesday — September 16 2026 Weekly Update2026-09-16
2026-09-16
PIR Wednesday — September 9 2026 Weekly Update2026-09-09
2026-09-09