Abstract :
There is today a wide consensus on the need of a data platform that allows individuals to manage their personal date under their control. ECCOD tackles the mistrust in today’s solutions using centralized servers and proposes an innovative approach : a secured personal cloud based on a combinaison of hardware and software solution 100% Plug & Play. Our goal is to bring the technology closer to the market and achieve economic and societal impact by empowering citizens to control their personal data.
Technical description of the project :
We are witnessing an exponential accumulation of personal data on servers: data stored by administrations, companies and websites visited, but also data owned or created by individuals themselves and voluntarily uploaded to the cloud (e.g. photos, agendas, invoices, measurements from home automation sensors and quantified-self objects, etc.).
Where does this data go?
The PRISM case has shown forcefully that these data are not immune from prying eyes. At the same time, they are massively exploited by a small number of actors (notably the GAFAs) in a resolutely non-transparent way. Finally, they are the target of regular attacks (Sony, Amazon, Apple in 2014 alone).
This server-centric solution is tending to impose itself despite major disadvantages: the user is dependent on his host, data security and confidentiality are not guaranteed, and access to data is dependent on the presence of a reliable Internet connection anywhere.
n 2015, the European Commission, aware of this situation, reacted by changing the legislation protecting personal data in the EU with the objective of giving citizens back control over their personal data. The team’s work (https://project.inria.fr/smis) is part of this movement, by designing mechanisms for the management of personal data that respect privacy. PlugDB is a concrete expression of this work in an operational software/matrix platform.
PlugDB (https://projetc.inria.fr/plugdb) is a Secure Personal Data Server embedded in an ultra-portable and communicating hardware component (called token in the following). The PlugDB engine allows you to store an individual’s data, index it, query it, protect it against failures and, above all, share it with deferred access rights, all while benefiting from a level of security such as a smart card. Thus, the individual is able to physically control the sharing and posting of his data, locally or with external servers and can access his personal data including offline.
PlugDB generates at each presentation a certain interest with these potential users because of its qualities (security, portability, code protection, ease of use). It is now in the form of a secure hardware token that can be used by any electronics company (currently the Yvelines-based company ERMATEL), accompagné d’une application mobile.
Our ambition is to have a real social and economic impact and for a growing number of citizens to be able to use PlugDB. Our objective in this call is therefore to study the feasibility of a business creation project based on PlugDB technology.
End results
Rapport Activité ECCOD Fin De Parcours