Secure and zero knowledge data sharing for cloud applications
Disclosed is a zero-knowledge distributed application configured to securely share information among groups of users having various roles, such as doctors and patients. Confidential information may be encrypted client-side, with private keys that reside solely client side. Encrypted collections of data may be uploaded to, and hosted by, a server that does not have access to keys suitable to decrypt the data. Other users may retrieve encrypted data from the server and decrypt some or all of the data with keys suitable to gain access to at least part of the encrypted data. The system includes a key hierarchy with multiple entry points to a top layer by which access is selectively granted to various users and keys may be recovered.
1. A method of communicating data between a first computing device associated with a patient and a second computing device associated with a care provider, comprising:
obtaining patient data with the first computing device associated with a patient;
encrypting the patient data with a first key at the first computing device;
transmitting the encrypted patient data without providing the first key to decrypt the data to a server;
storing the encrypted data at the server, wherein the server does not have access to any key to decrypt the encrypted data;
receiving a request for the stored encrypted data from the second computing device associated with the care provider; and
decrypting the encrypted data with a second key that is different than the first key, wherein the second key is a private key obtained by decrypting an encrypted private key (EPK) that was stored as part of a key hierarchy structure (KHS).
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first key is a public key.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and the second keys are generated at a time of registration of the patient as a new user.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein another KHS is created based on a request to generate shared data.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein names of entries of the KHS are obfuscated.