100% encrypted database decides to go open source

Dec 10, 2015 11:59 GMT  ·  By

The creators of ZeroDB, an end-to-end encrypted database, have open-sourced their application, making the code available on GitHub.

ZeroDB is a project announced with much fanfare at the start of the year, when a small group of developers decided to build a database that would be safe to host on insecure servers without exposing its data or encryption details.

The project got a lot of attention, especially from companies working in sectors where encryption and data safety are crucial, like finances, military, healthcare, telecommunications, and government.

According to a blog post from the project's administrators, the team will now be offering the database as an open source project under the GNU AGPL license.

"Now that it's open source, we want your help to make it better," said the developers, "Try it, build awesome things with it, break it. Then tell us about it."

ZeroDB works by encrypting data on the client's side, before sending it via the Internet to a remote server where the database is installed. The database itself does not know the encryption key but is designed in such a way that it can query and work with the encrypted information without knowing what it is.

A Python implementation is available via GitHub, and the team also plans to release a client that can be embedded within JavaScript-capable applications. More details on how ZeroDB works are provided in this technical write-up.

ZeroDB query mechanics
ZeroDB query mechanics

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ZeroDB goes open source
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