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Definition of "zero-knowledge encryption"

ng flag

I'm reading headlines on the tune of "…bring zero-knowledge encryption to file storage". Googling "zero-knowledge encryption" returns statements like "cloud storage or backup providers know nothing (i.e. have “zero-knowledge”) about the data you store on their servers".

Is there some academic definition of "zero-knowledge encryption" and how is it different from just encryption?

Marc Ilunga avatar
tr flag
Seems to be more marketing than substance, and I doubt they are talking about PKE schemes built on from Non-Interactive ZKs. But I am curious to see whether there are actually interesting and legit concepts. : )
cn flag
It's a marketing term for host-proof encryption and unrelated to zero knowledge proofs.
cn flag
Might have been spideroak's fault: [Spideroak - Why We Will No Longer Use the Phrase Zero Knowledge to Describe Our Software (2017)](https://medium.com/@SpiderOak/why-we-will-no-longer-use-the-phrase-zero-knowledge-to-describe-our-software-ddef2593a489) From what I remember, it used to be a single backup provider using that terminology in their marketing, but I'm not sure if it was spideroak. It appears to have caught on, and spideroak uses the term again now and claims to employ the inventors the concept.
kodlu avatar
sa flag
maybe it's just encryption implememented with "zero knowledge" about security, such as side-channel attacks? <\sarc>
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Most people don’t grasp that asking a lot of questions unlocks learning and improves interpersonal bonding. In Alison’s studies, for example, though people could accurately recall how many questions had been asked in their conversations, they didn’t intuit the link between questions and liking. Across four studies, in which participants were engaged in conversations themselves or read transcripts of others’ conversations, people tended not to realize that question asking would influence—or had influenced—the level of amity between the conversationalists.