UT Media Institute and Cybernetica AS to Start Co-operation on Secure Multiparty Computation

UT Institute of Communication and Journalism starts co-operation with sofware company Cybernetica AS.

Cybernetica AS and the UTs journalism institute are exploring a new means of ensuring privacy of data exchange, ERR News reports.

Secure computing can be costly and demanding on developers, and with that in mind a Cybernetica-led, EU-funded consortium will start studying how to better protect confidentiality of data in software systems through secure multiparty computation, and making it faster and more user-friendly.
 
The media institute is on board specifically for the latter, helping identify end users' expectations.
 
What does this mean in practice? An example cited by Cybernetica director is of two companies, otherwise competitors, who want to conduct logistical research on personal data without exposing their customer databases to each other.
 
The director of the University of Tartu's Institute of Journalism and Communication Pille Pruulmann-Vengerfeldt said it is a fairly unique project for Estonia and a critical future area.
 
The cooperation is taking place as part of the EU's UaESMC (Usable and Efficient Secure Multi-party Computation) project. The Royal Swedish Institute of Technology and University of Athens are also in the consortium.