http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/06/25/1736230/IBM-Claims-Breakthrough-I... An anonymous reader writes "An IBM researcher has solved a thorny mathematical problem that has confounded scientists since the invention of public-key encryption several decades ago. The breakthrough, called 'privacy homomorphism,' or 'fully homomorphic encryption,' <http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=7690>makes possible the deep and unlimited analysis of encrypted information ­ data that has been intentionally scrambled ­ without sacrificing confidentiality." Reader <http://www.elasticvapor.com/>ElasticVapor writes that the solution IBM claims "might better enable a cloud computing vendor to perform computations on clients' data at their request, such as analyzing sales patterns, without exposing the original data. Other potential applications include enabling filters to identify spam, even in encrypted email, or protecting information contained in electronic medical records." ... --- vice-chair http://ocjug.org/