This book comprehensively reviews searchable encryption, which
represents a series of research developments that directly enable search
functionality over encrypted data. The book majorly covers: 1) the
design and implementation of encrypted search algorithms, data
structures, and systems that facilitate various forms of search over
always-encrypted databases; 2) different threat models, assumptions, and
the related security guarantees, when using searchable encryption in the
real-world settings; and 3) latest efforts in building full-fledged
encrypted database systems that draw insights from searchable encryption
constructions.
The book fits in the timely context, where the necessity of safeguarding
important and sensitive data has been globally recognized. Traditional
security measures, such as storing data behind network firewalls and
layers of access control mechanisms to keep attackers out, are no longer
sufficient to cope with the expanding landscape of surging cyber
threats. There is an urgent call to keep sensitive data always encrypted
to protect the data at rest, in transit, and in use. Doing so guarantees
data confidentiality for owners, even if the data is out of their hands,
e.g., hosted at in-the-cloud databases. The daunting challenge is how to
perform computation over encrypted data. As we unfold in this book,
searchable encryption, as a specific line of research in this broadly
defined area, has received tremendous advancements over the past
decades.
This book is majorly oriented toward senior undergraduates, graduate
students, and researchers, who want to work in the field and need
extensive coverage of encrypted database research. It also targets
security practitioners who want to make well-informed deployment choices
of the latest advancements in searchable encryption for their targeted
applications. Hopefully, this book will be beneficial in both regards.
