[stadia42]

I didn't fully understand the implications. Why is there so much focus on privacy protection? Isn't by far the biggest application of this technology in security? (Presumably, ensuring that no one steals money out of my bank account is much more important than hiding my porn preferences from the advertisers.)

[littlestymaar]

AFAIK FHE offers little security benefits compared to more standard cryptography when it comes to securing bank accounts. It can hide things (which is the first application of cryptography, hence the crypto prefix − ancient greek for hidden), but it doesn't give you certification like asymmetric cryptography, quite the opposite actually, because by definition FHE schemes are perfectly malleable.

[stadia42]

Ah thanks! I incorrectly assumed that if so much effort is spent on this, it must be because it helps protect something valuable (directly by preventing bank or credit hacking, or indirectly by helping secure trade secrets behind encryption, etc.).