Private Data on Public Highways
“How Zero Knowledge Proofs solve the issue of using public carriers for private purposes”
by Timothy Coleman - 26/Apr/2023
Public Highways
Public blockchains are ‘carrier’ spaces, like the radio airwaves, or the ocean or the sky. Transactions on a Blockchain, are like radio broadcasts or commercial flights. These broadcasts are usually understandable by people, just as how information about flights or shipping can be seen on specific websites.
However, just because public highways are used for public purposes, they can also be used for private purposes. Radio waves have always been used for transporting Encrypted messages (which can be seen by anyone with the right know-how), however, the message itself is not able to be deciphered.
Risks
The degree of complexity in ‘cracking’ these private messages varies depending on many factors: in the case of a plane flying through ‘public’ highways, the plane itself would need to be intercepted in order to understand the contents of the vehicle.
Such is the case with public blockchains. When we say ‘encrypted transactions’, we aren’t necessarily talking about financial transactions (although this is often the case), but these transactions can also be any user initiated intent to make something happen (and signed with a ‘Digital Pen’).
Why use Public Highways?
One may ask, “What is the use of using a public blockchain for transactions intended to be kept private?” The answer.. Immutability. By using these public highways, there is no possibility of data being tampered with in the way it may be on a private chain. We have, in effect, a helpful ‘lie detector’.
So what does this need to make it work, and what are the risks involved in doing so? There is always a risk in storing encrypted data in a public place; but time sensitive data decrypted 10 years later is not as much of an issue as encrypted time sensitive data cracked now. Lets look at Zero Knowledge Proofs.
Zero Knowledge Proofs
Developments in quantum computing pose a threat to private data stored on public blockchains, however, many encryption algorithms find themselves to be ‘quantum resistant’, including some of those in the ZKP space. ZKPs allow us to prove facts are true against private data stored publicly.
Zero Knowledge Proofs are a way in which we can make use of Public Highways for carrying private data, and the use cases are many. The main challenge come with gaining approval from partner organisations to store their data in such a way, and distributing the ability to update these records to the right parties.