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CityDefend is a patent pending technology that allows users to search directly over their encrypted data privately, securely and efficiently.
About
THE SOLUTION CityDefend provides users with searchable encryption capability with the following characteristics: * Privacy. We have pioneered a new concept using probabilistic (non-deterministic) search queries which prevents any search pattern leakage. Malicious attackers are unable to infer any information about the query or the dataset, hence the system is immune to statistical attacks. * Security. This is the first searchable encryption scheme that combines this degree of privacy preservation with homomorphic encryption (HE). By enhancing industry leading HE techniques, we mitigate statistical attacks and increase overall security performance. * Efficiency. Unlike conventional search techniques, CityDefend eliminates the need for centralised data structures which reduces network latency, storage overhead, and provides scalability across hybrid- and cross-cloud platforms. The CityDefend API allows organisations to integrate easily with front end interfaces and back end server configurations to deliver privacy preserving searchable encryption capabilities with no change to existing infrastructure. The client-side API lives within the enterprise and ensures no plaintext sensitive data leaves the secure perimeter, thus maximising security. The server-side API integrates wherever the data must reside, with no changes to the underlying server architecture. Ultimately this gives users secure, private, and efficient searchable encryption with no interruption of existing business processes. THE PROBLEM One liner: Businesses need an efficient way to search over their encrypted data securely and privately. Background In response to growing cyber threats, encryption has become a central part to any effective cyber risk mitigation strategy. However, data in its encrypted form is not usable – it cannot be easily searched and therefore it cannot be analysed, operated upon, or leveraged effectively. This leaves businesses with an uneasy trade-off between security and usability. Existing solutions to this problem include: (i) downloading and decrypting vast amounts of data; or (ii) generating large index tables and searching for keywords. However, these techniques rely on complex data structures that result in significant computing overheads, and they are known to leak information making them susceptible to statistical attacks. As the regulatory landscape evolves and as cyber threats continue to develop, organisations need an efficient way to query their encrypted data securely and privately.
Key Benefits
CityDefend USPs include: * Security and privacy are increased as the technology is based on a state-of-the-art encryption technique and uses a novel mechanism to design the probabilistic trapdoors that obfuscates the search patterns mitigating the risks of distinguishability attacks. * Storage overhead is reduced as a predefined, centralised data structure is no longer required and hence the search is directly carried out over the encrypted data. * Scalable across hybrid-cloud architectures as the need of a centralised data structure is eliminated, making it possible to search across mass distributed data sources. CityDefend allows users to update, delete, and modify the encrypted data at runtime. * Lightweight constructions provide a feasible solution compared to traditional homomorphic encryption schemes. * Network latency is reduced by eliminating the need to download large volumes of encrypted data or manage meta data. These USPs translate to the following tangible business benefits: * Manage and mitigate risks. CityDefend’s privacy preserving search capability enables targeted searching across distributed storage media, while integrating with access control policies. * Improve data governance. CityDefend facilitates data governance strategies by increasing data integrity and availability through secure sharing, and reducing the frequency and impact of breaches. * Low cost deployment. CityDefend’s API integrates with front end applications and back end server configurations, making it quick and easy to deploy with minimal disruption. * Easy to use. CityDefend functionality requires no change to business processes and requires no specific user training to obtain the benefits of encrypted search.
Applications
Direct customers: Organisations that use CityDefend to protect their sensitive data while being able to search over it. Target verticals include: * Defence and space * Telecoms * Financial services Partners: Businesses that use CityDefend to enhance existing products or services and generate new revenue. Target verticals include: * Document management and eSigning * Data analytics platforms * Cloud service providers