Ethereum has been facing the large hurdle of scaling their operations. They have struggled on multiple occasions to handle large amounts of people using their network as seen in a variety of instances such as CryptoKitties. This issue of scaling has pushed the security needs of the system to the side often, but recently security has come to the forefront as a needed upgrade. CEO Vitalik Buterin has discussed his stance on privacy as growing over the recent years. Four major projects are being developed currently hoping to solve this issue to better maintain and protect the integrity of the crypto.

The Secret Store developed by Parity offers one potential solution for ethereum. The software encrypts information and disperses keys to selected officials. CEO Jutta Steiner discussed the new software, saying

    It encrypts both the storage and the actual code of the smart contract, so in that way, under the assumption that you trust the authorizers not to collude, it provides privacy of any transaction that the contract models and implements.

The ability for users to share information with others they don’t “trust” could translate well to transactions. There would need to be a number of adjustments made before the software could be used for transactions as ethereum would want to implement it. Uncertainty lies with previous projects Parity was also forced to shut down due to regulatory scrutiny so navigating the legal sector may prove a challenge.

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Enigma has created secret contracts that they believe could be transferable to ethereum’s privacy issue. The logic behind the contracts lies with decentralized application developers (dapp), who create contracts without fully putting them on the blockchain. Instead, they will be completed in data storage facilities held by Enigma.

In this case, even nodes servicing the transaction do not know the contents. The transaction without the details is still posted on the ethereum blockchain as a recording mechanism. This provides more flexibility although may give away some performance measures.

The Kimono project combines game theory and encryption to provide security to ethereum. The project is based on a code that splits up data pieces and gives them to users. They are then supposed to reveal their code in a specific time table to complete the transaction. Anyone who publishes their data to early, late or enters incorrect data will be punished through the system.

The concept of time locking offers many pros and the way it is done in this instance brings a more decentralized nature to the idea. This idea has a strong ability to grow as noted by co-founder Feridun Mert Celebi,

    We could have a way to structure that, that it’s revealed after a certain event happens – not only relying on the function of time as a variable but maybe other conditions being met on the blockchain.

The final potential solution at this time comes in the form of EIP 1024. This change is a straight forward extra encryption-decryption that would provide another layer of safety without creating extra hassles for app developers. Developer Tope Alabi described the project as

    generat[ing] an encryption key pair using your ethereum private key. This new encryption key pair can then be used to securely send data to any other ethereum address.

By Luke Bakies
CryptoCoin Mastery

https://cryptocoinmastery.com/security-becoming-major-focus-for-ethereum/