Public-key encrypted bloom filters with applications to supply chain integrity

Abstract

Bloom filters provide a space- and time-efficient mean to check the inclusion of an element in a set. In some applications it is beneficial, if the set represented by the Bloom filter is only revealed to authorized parties. Particularly, operations data in supply chain management can be very sensitive and Bloom filters can be applied to supply chain integrity validation. Despite the protection of the represented set, Bloom filter operations, such as the verification of set inclusion, need to be still feasible. In this paper we present privacy-preserving, publicly verifiable Bloom filters which offer both: privacy for the represented set and public Bloom filter operations. We give security proofs in the standard model. © 2011 IFIP International Federation for Information Processing.