March 2023 Summaries

Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) represents a groundbreaking advancement in cybersecurity, enabling computations on encrypted data without decryption, thus maintaining data privacy and security. Initially conceptualized by Rivest, Adleman, and Dertouzos in 1978, FHE saw its first practical implementation in 2009 by Craig Gentry, leveraging lattice-based cryptography to perform arithmetic operations on encrypted data. While traditional encryption methods require decryption for computation, FHE allows data to remain encrypted, thereby enhancing security, though it demands significant computational resources and complexity. There are various types of homomorphic encryption, such as Partially Homomorphic Encryption (PHE) and Somewhat Homomorphic Encryption (SHE), each with different capabilities and limitations. Despite its computational expense and current limitations for high-scale applications, FHE has promising real-world applications in sectors like healthcare and financial services, where it safeguards sensitive data during computations. As the technology progresses, it holds potential for broader applications, enhancing data security and privacy across industries.

Evervault developed Cages to simplify the deployment of Trusted Execution Environments (Secure Enclaves) for developers, focusing on maintaining the integrity of Platform Configuration Registers (PCRs) and eliminating the need for users to trust Evervault. By allowing users to build Cages locally using an open-source CLI, the company ensures transparency and security, as the data-plane is the only addition to the Enclave, and PCR values come directly from the Nitro CLI. The process involves converting Docker containers into Enclave Image Files (EIFs) using AWS's Nitro CLI and overcoming challenges like running the Nitro CLI on non-Linux systems, managing the complexity of installing runtime components in arbitrary Dockerfiles, and ensuring reproducibility of builds. Evervault's approach includes using tools like Kaniko and BuildKit to achieve reproducible builds by standardizing timestamps, thus ensuring consistent PCRs across different builds. The development of Cages emphasizes making Enclave deployment accessible and reliable while maintaining data security and integrity.

In December 2022, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced that SHA-1 should be completely phased out by the end of 2030, following its deprecation in 2011, due to the growing practicality of collision attacks against it. This text delves into the basic principles of hashing, explaining the mechanics of SHA-1 and discussing the significant security implications of SHA-1 collisions. It highlights the history of collision attacks on SHA-1, which began with theoretical attacks and have now become practical due to advancements in computational power. The document also explores a hypothetical scenario involving Evervault Cages to illustrate the potential vulnerabilities if SHA-1 were used, emphasizing the importance of using more secure alternatives like SHA-256 or SHA-3. The conclusion stresses the urgency of deprecating SHA-1 in favor of more robust hashing algorithms due to the decreasing time and power required for successful collision attacks, ultimately advising organizations to stay ahead in cryptographic practices.

The Evervault Encryption Platform offers a secure and PCI-compliant solution for businesses that need to collect, store, and share payment data, particularly when integrating with third-party services like Stripe. By encrypting data at the field level using unique public keys, Evervault allows developers to handle sensitive information without exposing it in plaintext, making it ideal for businesses with complex payment configurations, such as booking aggregators and those employing multi-processor strategies. This approach enhances data security while maintaining flexibility in sharing encrypted card details with multiple third parties, optimizing geographical market access, cost management, and acceptance rates. Unlike traditional tokenization or vaulting solutions, Evervault provides a superior developer experience with thoughtfully designed APIs and tools, facilitating quick integration and usage across various industries, including healthcare, open banking, and Web3.

Evervault has rebranded its service "Cages" to "Enclaves," focusing on deploying and scaling AWS Nitro Enclaves, which are secure environments known as Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs). These enclaves provide cryptographic verification, isolated hardware, and remote attestation, enhancing security for applications processing sensitive data like biometric information and financial transactions. While TEEs have been limited by hardware constraints, Evervault aims to overcome these challenges by simplifying the deployment process for developers, making high-standard security more accessible without compromising performance. The company has used Nitro Enclaves for its Encryption Engine to ensure secure input/output, memory isolation, and key access. Despite the technical challenges, such as managing network requests and achieving application observability, Evervault is committed to encrypting the web and making TEEs more user-friendly through their product, Cages. This initiative aligns with their mission to enhance internet security by providing a platform where developers can easily deploy applications in secure environments while maintaining rigorous security standards.

Inputs has introduced new localization and customization features, allowing users to pass custom values for form labels and placeholders, and disable the CVV field when unnecessary. The Activity Log has been enhanced with improved search and filter functions, while file encryption has entered beta testing, supporting encryption and decryption of files in various formats with a 25MB size limit per request. The Cages beta continues to evolve, incorporating user feedback and new features like multi-port egress support and refined authentication through E3. Scoped API Keys have been launched, providing a means to restrict API key access to specific actions and resources, thereby enhancing security and compliance. Additionally, functions can now create run tokens without predefined payloads, and Evervault has launched a Discord server to foster community engagement, support, and discussions.