Decentralized multi-client functional encryption for set intersection with improved efficiency (Q2692968)

Functional encryption (FE) is a new paradigm of public-key encryption, that can control the exposed information of plaintexts by supporting computation on encrypted data. In this paper, the authors propose efficient multi-client FE (MCFE) schemes, that compute the set intersection of ciphertexts generated by two clients. First, they propose an MCFE scheme that calculates the set intersection cardinality (MCFE-SIC) and prove its static security under dynamic assumptions. Next, they extend the MCFE-SIC scheme to an MCFE scheme for set intersection (MCFE-SI) and prove its static security under dynamic assumptions. The decryption algorithm of their MCFE-SI scheme is more efficient than the existing MCFE-SI scheme because it requires fewer pairing operations to calculate the intersection of two clients. Finally, they propose a decentralized MCFE scheme for set intersection (DMCFE-SI) that decentralizes the generation of function keys. Their MCFE schemes can be effectively applied to a privacy-preserving contact tracing system to prevent the spread of recent infectious diseases.