PAPEETE: Private, Authorized, and Fast Personal Genomic Testing

Over the past few years, the increased affordability of genome sequencing and the ensuing availability of genetic data have propelled important progress in precision medicine and enabled a market for personal genomic testing. This yields exciting new opportunities for faster and more accurate diagnosis, personalized treatments, and genetically tailored wellness plans. At the same time, however, it also creates important security and privacy threats. In this paper, we present a new cryptographic protocol, PAPEETE (Private, Authorized, fast PErsonal gEnomic TEsting) suitable for running different types of tests on users’ genetic data (specifically, SNPs). The protocol, which builds on top of additively homomorphic encryption, provides privacy for both users and test facilities, and it guarantees that the test is authorized by an appropriate authority such as the FDA. Finally, we present a prototype implementation of PAPEETE, and an experimental evaluation that attests to the real-world practicality of our techniques.