Privacy engine(s) for masking confidential information during verification processes within distributed systems

1 . A computing apparatus comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium;

processor-executable instructions stored on the computer-readable storage medium; and

one or more processors coupled to the computer-readable storage medium and configured to execute the processor-executable instructions to operate a prover-side privacy engine within a distributed system, such that the processor-executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, direct the computing apparatus, to at least:

identify confidential information for a verification process;

convert the confidential information into a plurality of tuples;

generate a random set of tuples from the plurality of tuples;

embed an embedding element into the random set of tuples;

generate a commitment based on the random set of tuples; and

transmit the commitment to a verifier-side privacy engine to initiate a zero-knowledge proof protocol, wherein based on the zero-knowledge proof protocol, the verifier-side privacy engine validates that the prover-side privacy engine possesses the confidential information.

2 . The computing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor-executable instructions to generate the random set of tuples from the plurality of tuples, when executed by the one or more processors, further direct the computing apparatus to:

select a random value as a seed for a cryptographically Secure Pseudorandom Number Generator (CSPRNG); and

submit the plurality of tuples and the seed to the CSPRNG, wherein the CSPRNG responsively generates the random set of tuples.

3 . The computing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor-executable instructions to generate the commitment based on the random set of tuples, when executed by the one or more processors, further direct the computing apparatus to:

select, by the prover-side privacy engine, a masking tuple from the random set of tuples; and

generate, by the prover-side privacy engine, the commitment based on the masking tuple, and the random set of tuples.

4 . The computing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor-executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further direct the computing apparatus to:

select a masking tuple from the random set of tuples;

receive, from the verifier-side privacy engine, a challenge to the commitment;

determine a binary value of the challenge; and

generate a response to the challenge based on the binary value, wherein the response comprises at least a portion of the random set of tuples, the masking tuple, and the embedding element.

5 . The computing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor-executable instructions to embed the embedding element into the random set of tuples, when executed by the one or more processors, further direct the computing apparatus to:

generate the random set of tuples from the plurality of tuples comprising the embedding element.

6 . The computing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:

the random set of tuples are generated using a random value as a seed; and

the processor-executable instructions to generate, by the prover-side privacy engine, the commitment based on the random set of tuples, when executed by the one or more processors, further direct the computing apparatus to:

generate a cryptographic hash of the random set of tuples and the seed as the commitment.

7 . A method comprising:

converting, by a prover-side privacy engine, confidential information into a plurality of tuples for a verification process;

embedding, by the prover-side privacy engine, the plurality of tuples with an embedding element;

generating, by the prover-side privacy engine, a commitment using the plurality of tuples;

transmitting by the prover-side privacy engine, the commitment to a verifier-side privacy engine to initiate a zero-knowledge proof protocol, wherein based on the zero-knowledge proof protocol, the verifier-side privacy engine validates that the prover-side privacy engine possesses the confidential information;

responsive to receiving the commitment, verifying, by the verifier-side privacy engine, that the commitment comprises the embedding element;

generating, by the verifier-side privacy engine, a challenge to the commitment based the commitment comprising the embedding element;

transmitting, by the verifier-side privacy engine, the challenge to the prover-side privacy engine;

responsive to receiving the challenge, generating, by the prover-side privacy engine, a response comprising the embedding element based on the challenge; and

validating, by the verifier-side privacy engine, the response from the prover-side privacy engine based on the response comprising the embedding element.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein embedding, by the prover-side privacy engine, the plurality of tuples with the embedding element comprises:

generating, by the prover-side privacy engine, a random set of tuples from the plurality of tuples; and

embedding, by the prover-side privacy engine, the random set of tuples with the embedding element.

9 . The method of claim 7 , wherein:

the method further comprises:

generating, by the prover-side privacy engine, a random set of tuples from the plurality of tuples; and

generating, by the prover-side privacy engine, the commitment using the plurality of tuples comprises generating, by the prover-side privacy engine, the commitment using the random set of tuples.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein generating the random set of tuples from the plurality of tuples comprises:

determined, by the prover-side privacy engine, a random value as a seed for a Cryptographically Secure Pseudorandom Number Generator (CSPRNG); and

generating, by the prover-side privacy engine, the random set of tuples from the plurality of tuples and the seed using the CSPRNG.

11 . The method of claim 7 , wherein verifying, by the verifier-side privacy engine, that the commitment comprises the embedding element comprises:

identifying, by the verifier-side privacy engine, an embedding function associated with the commitment;

decoding, by the verifier-side privacy engine, the commitment using the embedding function; and

extracting, by the verifier-side privacy engine, the embedding element from the commitment as decoded via the embedding function.

12 . The method of claim 7 , wherein:

generating, by the prover-side privacy engine, the commitment using the plurality of tuples comprises:

generating, by the prover-side privacy engine, a random set of tuples from the plurality of tuples; and

generating, by the prover-side privacy engine, the commitment using the random set of tuples; and

generating, by the prover-side privacy engine, the response comprising the embedding element based on the challenge comprises:

determining, by the prover-side privacy engine, one or more binary values based on the challenge;

selecting, by the prover-side privacy engine, at least a subset of the random set of tuples for the response based on the one or more binary values; and

generating, by the prover-side privacy engine, the response comprising the embedding element and the at least a subset of the random set of tuples.

13 . The method of claim 7 , wherein validating, by the verifier-side privacy engine, the response from the prover-side privacy engine based on the response comprising the embedding element comprises:

validating, by the verifier-side privacy engine, that the response comprises the embedding element; and

validating, by the verifier-side privacy engine, that the commitment comprises matching elements to the response.

14 . A computer-readable storage medium comprising processor-executable instructions, wherein the processor-executable instructions, in part, operate a privacy engine to perform a Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP) protocol between a prover and a verifier within a distributed system such to cause one or more processors to:

identify, by a prover-side privacy engine, confidential information for the ZKP protocol;

convert, by the prover-side privacy engine, the confidential information into a plurality of tuples;

generate, by the prover-side privacy engine, a random set of tuples from the plurality of tuples;

embed, by the prover-side privacy engine, an embedding element into the random set of tuples;

generate, by the prover-side privacy engine, a commitment based on the random set of tuples;

transmit, by the prover-side privacy engine, the commitment to a verifier-side privacy engine;

responsive to receiving the commitment, verify, by the verifier-side privacy engine, that the commitment comprises the embedding element; and

validate, by the verifier-side privacy engine, that the prover-side privacy engine possesses the confidential information using the commitment based on the ZKP protocol.

15 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the processor-executable instructions to generate, by the prover-side privacy engine, the random set of tuples from the plurality of tuples cause the one or more processors to further execute processor-executable instructions stored in the computer-readable storage medium to:

select, by the prover-side privacy engine, a random value as a seed for a cryptographically Secure Pseudorandom Number Generator (CSPRNG); and

generate, by the prover-side privacy engine, the random set of tuples from the plurality of tuples and the seed using the CSPRNG.

16 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the processor-executable instructions to generate, by the prover-side privacy engine, the commitment based on the random set of tuples cause the one or more processors to further execute processor-executable instructions stored in the computer-readable storage medium to:

select, by the prover-side privacy engine, a masking tuple from the random set of tuples; and

generate, by the prover-side privacy engine, the commitment based on the masking tuple, and the random set of tuples.

17 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the processor-executable instructions to embed, by the prover-side privacy engine, the embedding element into the random set of tuples cause the one or more processors to further execute processor-executable instructions stored in the computer-readable storage medium to:

embed, by the prover-side privacy engine, the embedding element into plurality of tuples; and

generate, by the prover-side privacy engine, the random set of tuples from the plurality of tuples comprising the embedding element.

18 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 ,

wherein the processor-executable instructions to verify, by the verifier-side privacy engine, that the commitment comprises the embedding element cause the one or more processors to further execute processor-executable instructions stored in the computer-readable storage medium to:

identify, by the verifier-side privacy engine, an embedding function associated with the commitment;

decode, by the verifier-side privacy engine, the commitment using the embedding function; and

extract, by the verifier-side privacy engine, the embedding element from the commitment as decoded via the embedding function.

19 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 ,

wherein the processor-executable instructions to validate, by the verifier-side privacy engine, that the prover-side privacy engine possesses the confidential information using the commitment cause the one or more processors to further execute processor-executable instructions stored in the computer-readable storage medium to:

generate, by the verifier-side privacy engine, a challenge to the commitment based the embedding element within the commitment;

determine, by the prover-side privacy engine, one or more binary values based on the challenge;

select, by the prover-side privacy engine, one or more tuples from the random set of tuples for a response based on the one or more binary values; and

generate, by the prover-side privacy engine, the response comprising the embedding element and the one or more tuples.

20 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the processor-executable instructions to validate, by the verifier-side privacy engine, that the prover-side privacy engine possesses the confidential information using the commitment cause the one or more processors to further execute processor-executable instructions stored in the computer-readable storage medium to:

generate, by the verifier-side privacy engine, a challenge to the commitment based the embedding element within the commitment;

generate, by the prover-side privacy engine, a response comprising the embedding element and the one or more tuples from the random set of tuples;

generate, by the verifier-side privacy engine, matching elements from the one or more tuples in the response; and

validate, by the verifier-side privacy engine, that the commitment comprises the matching elements.