Kudelski Security Announces FENTEC Participation to Develop New Functional Encryption Technologies

Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Switzerland, and Phoenix (AZ), USA, December 19th, 2018 – Kudelski Security, the cybersecurity division of the Kudelski Group (SIX:KUD.S), today announced its participation in FENTEC, the initiative of the European Commission Horizon 2020 to develop new functional encryption technologies.

This three-year project brings together a team of cryptographers, software experts, hardware specialists and IT industry representatives. The program aims to develop efficient, innovative functional encryption systems, which are application oriented and can be used in a wide range of scenarios. Specific objectives are three-fold: first, to design novel functional encryption systems with varying functional, hardware, software and security requirements; second, to implement a unified, highly optimized cryptographic API of functional encryption; and third, to validate and demonstrate FENTEC technologies and solutions.

The aim of Kudelski Security's specific contribution is to develop a prototype that enables local decision making at the gateway level of an IoT system, without disclosing end-to-end ciphered data. The prototype aims to detect motion from an encrypted video stream, and by leveraging machine learning, sort encrypted images to trigger response, without decrypting the images. If functional encryption can be leveraged in gateway decision making, without leaking any private information to that gateway, the benefits will be significant. Automation in smart electricity grids and substation as well as smart metering are envisaged. In essence, the security threat is moved from the gateway platform toward the design of the cryptographic scheme, where security is more developed, resulting in increased trust in the IoT edge device.

FENTEC is a 3-year project that has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 780108 and brings together 10 different partners from across the European Union, including Atos and several leading universities.

About Kudelski Security

Kudelski Security is the premier advisor and cybersecurity innovator for today’s most security-conscious organizations. Our long-term approach to client partnerships enables us to continuously evaluate their security posture to recommend solutions that reduce business risk, maintain compliance and increase overall security effectiveness. With clients that include Fortune 500 enterprises and government organizations in Europe and across the United States, we address the most complex environments through an unparalleled set of solution capabilities including consulting, technology, managed security services and custom innovation. For more information, visit www.kudelskisecurity.com.

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