Panoramix presents “Mix-nets are back” at the European Privacy and Data Protection Summit co-organised by H2020 TYPES project, one of the other EU projects on privacy innovation.

“Mix-nets are back: configurable anonymity for messaging and voting”

A mix-net is a network of servers that receives encrypted messages from senders, and delivers them to recipients with guaranteed anonymity. Mix-nets have been around since the 80s, and are a powerful tool for security and privacy. However, existing implementations are not always easy to configure and use. PANORAMIX aims to provide usable technology and tools for creating, operating, and using mix-nets. Specifically, it offers a platform that enforces configurable workflows for different actors that participate in a mix-net, including: operators, application developers, trustees, auditors, or any other role a use-case requires. This orchestration is important because: (1) A mix-net inherently relies in distributing trust in several independent parties. In this way, no single party can break anonymity. (2) Application developers must configure and use technology and tools in a standardized way, including intricate cryptographic primitives that can only be understood by experts. Furthermore, the project offers a way for expert mix-net developers to present their technology in a safe, usable and configurable way. PANORAMIX itself presents two main use-cases that are different from each other. First, the e-voting use-case, which requires absolute safety, precision and strong proofs. Second, the messaging use-case that requires low latency and high throughput.