Editor’s note: This post is not directly linked to quantum computing or technology but we do think it may interest our readers.
Banco Bradesco, a prominent Brazilian financial institution, has been working with IBM Research to apply a technique called homomorphic encryption to banking data. The pilot showed it was possible to apply machine learning algorithms to encrypted data without decrypting it, creating a new level of privacy that could be applied to other industries.
Homomorphic Encryption (HE) is based on the mathematics of lattices and can protect the confidentiality of data from complex attacks, even by quantum computers. With HE, computers can perform computations while the data remains encrypted.
During their pilot project with Banco Bradesco, the scientists’ goal was to look at an account holder’s banking activity over a window of time and using machine learning, predict with good accuracy whether that account holder would need a loan within the following three months. They showed they could make predictions using encrypted data with the same accuracy as with unencrypted data. (DarkReading)