Secure Encryption Key Management Modules, Explained

Multiparty computation, or MPC, allows different parties with their own private inputs to conduct a joint computation on their inputs.

Secret sharing scheme involves distributing pieces of one secret value across multiple network nodes or users.

On its own, this allows us to split data up securely over geographic locations.

This concept can also apply to performing computational tasks on a secret shared value known as secure MPC. Using protocols associated with the secret sharing scheme, the parties can perform any computational task on the shared data without needing to bring the associated parts back together.

The secure MPC concept can apply to any type of private data, whether it’s personal data, shared corporate data or a user’s private key.

The same idea can be applied to private keys associated with cryptography.

In the hospital example, instead of combining sets of data, the data is instead split into multiple pieces of data, which is then stored in separate locations.

These locations can then use MPC to compute any computation using the private key, for example a signature, without the private key needing to be reconstructed.

A Bitcoin private key could be split into pieces, with each piece encrypted separately.

The network can perform computations on the data while keeping the underlying data encrypted and private.