# A High-Level Technical Overview of Fully Homomorphic Encryption

DevFeed: [A High-Level Technical Overview of Fully Homomorphic Encryption](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/a-high-level-technical-overview-of-fully-homomorphic-encryption-40484.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://www.jeremykun.com/2024/05/04/fhe-overview/>)

Published: 2024-05-04T15:30:00Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [Jeremy Kun](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/jeremy-kun.md>)

Topics: [FHE](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/fhe.md>), [homomorphic encryption](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/homomorphic-encryption.md>), [Encryption](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/encryption.md>), [Cryptography](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/cryptography.md>), [toolchain](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/toolchain.md>), [Compiler](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/compiler.md>), [Post-quantum cryptography](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/post-quantum-cryptography.md>)

Tags: [compiler](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/compiler.md>), [cryptography](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/cryptography.md>), [encryption](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/encryption.md>), [fhe](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/fhe.md>), [google](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/google.md>), [homomorphic-encryption](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/homomorphic-encryption.md>), [linear-algebra](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/linear-algebra.md>), [lwe](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/lwe.md>), [mathematics](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/mathematics.md>), [post-quantum-cryptography](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/post-quantum-cryptography.md>), [programming](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/programming.md>), [rlwe](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/rlwe.md>), [technical](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/technical.md>)

## AI overview

A technical, high-level survey of fully homomorphic encryption (FHE), explaining how programs can operate on encrypted data without decrypting it. The article discusses the field's current limitations, key techniques, and its relationship to the HEIR compiler toolchain.

## Source excerpt

About two years ago, I switched teams at Google to focus on fully homomorphic encryption (abbreviated FHE, or sometimes HE). Since then I've got to work on a lot of interesting projects, learning along the way about post-quantum cryptography, compiler design, and the ins and outs of fully homomorphic encryption. If you've heard about FHE and you're a software person, you've probably heard two things: it lets you run programs directly on encrypted data without ever decrypting it; and it's still too slow to be useful for anything.