Steemit Crypto Academy Contest / S12W6 - Privacy is important

Blockchain was created to provide amongst other things privacy. Over the centuries, peoples' privacy have been abused and accessed.

So many mechanisms and systems have been provided to add additional security to users data.

One of them is what I am going to write about today. The Zero Knowledge Protocol ZKP. What is it and how is it being used to improve users privacy?

What is Zero Knowledge Protocol (ZKP)? Give your own opinion and explain an example.

A zero-knowledge protocol is a way in which a person can prove to another person that a particular statement or thing is true without letting the other party know the details of such information.

The person who is conveying the information is known as the prover while the person he is proving it to is known as the verifier.

The main thing is that the prover does not reveal anything about the information to the verifier, which heightens the level of privacy and security of the information.

This theory was first explained in 1985 in an MIT paper. In The paper, it was demonstrated that an individual can pass a message across without revealing everything about the message.

This protocol must be able to achieve two basic requirements. These two requirements are:

° Completeness

° Soundness.

There is need for the prover to show that he is aware of the information to a high degree while the verifier confirms that the prover is in possession of the information. All these processes will take place with the information concerned not being revealed.

An example of a system where zero-knowledge protocol is being applied is in the voting system. Usually efforts are made to ensure security of voters and the entire voting system.

With the use of this protocol, an individual can vote during an election. No other person will be able to know whom he voted for but he has a proof that he has voted.

So it assist in ensuring secrecy to the voting system, thus safeguarding and protecting actions from public knowledge.

With this protocol, votes cannot be manipulated, neither can you monitor people to find out whom they voted for since you do not have access to verify the information.

What is the ZK-SNARK protocol? Give your own opinion.

This is a type of Zero-knowledge protocol where a person can prove that he possesses a particular information without exposing the information and absolutely no communication between the prover and the verifier.

The ZK-SNARKS is coined as an acronym for Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-interacrive Argument of Knowledge. Each of these words make up its characteristics. Let us now break it down and see their meanings individually.

The Zero-Knowledge means that the prover can inform the verifier that he has an information without revealing it to him.

Succinct carries the thought of verifying the proof with the minimum amount of time like milliseconds.

Non-interactive implies that there is nothing for the verifier to confirm, the message sent by the prover is enough.

Argument- the proofs which the prover sends are refered to as the argument.

Knowledge : - simply means the information which is owned by the prover.

So by using zk-SNARKS, a transaction is thoroughly kept private and hidden via encryption while still being validated within the network.

So unlike some other Zero-Knowledge protocol where there is an interaction or communication between the prover and verifier, the zk-SNARKS does not require such interaction except a singular message from the prover.

How does the ZK-SNARK work and is it possible to adapt it to the Steem Blockchain? Give your own opinion.

To ensure usage of the ZK-SNARK, the sender must ensure he has the funds he wants to send available and must also provide the private key needed to execute the transaction showing that the funds is his.

The zk-Snark which already have some of the Blockchain consensus mechanism encoded in it will ensure the sender provided all the information above without exposing either the addresses nor the amount sent.

Then the zk-SNARK converts the information that will be proved into equations to be solved by the second person confirming ownership without revealing any information about the transaction too.

is it possible to adapt it to the Steem Blockchain?

I would say that it is possible. Like I earlier mentioned, the Blockchain consensus rules are encoded into the zk-SNARKS protocol. It is only left for the steem Blockchain development team to ensure it is encoded.

However. It seems like we also already have something like this on steemit even though it may not be as robust now.

Remember that in steemit we can encode our messages by using our memo key such that no other person can see the sender except if the receiver uses his memo key to decrypt it and then see the information.

So I believe that it is possible to adapt it to the steem Blockchain.

What is the difference between ZK-SNARKs and ZK-STARKs? Explain

ZK-SNARKS	ZK-STARKS
The protocol is non interactive in nature	This protocol is transparent in nature.
It usually requires a trusted setup that will generate the key which will be used to create and validate the proofs.	It does not require a trusted setup to achieve its objective.
The key is shared by the prover and the sender, while the prover verifies the key through an algorithm, the sender also does so through a different algorithm thus requiring no interaction.	It makes use of probabilistically checkable proofs (PCP) and interactive oracle proofs (IOP).
The key is referred to as the Common Reference String(CRS)	The PCP ensures transparency while the IOP ensures they both have the best way to interact while making it scalable.
This CRS generated is very short that it is very easy to be stored in a blockchain fulfilling the Succinctpart of the acronym	The prover only needs to compute the part of the message that is needed by the verifier. This is made possible due to the IOP.
Both parties sharing in the generation of the CRS must be honest and reliable to ensure the random numbers remains a secret, if not the whole system is compromised	ZK-STARK protocol is very scalable and the proofs are generated and verified faster than ZK-SNARK.
This aspect of trust requires from the prover and verifier is against the principles of Blockchain technology which requires lack of trust and total decentralization.	The two main characteristics of trustlessness and decentralization are evidenced in ZK-STARK protocol.
It is subject to attack by quantum computer due to its use of elliptic curve Cryptography	It uses collision resistant hash which are defiant to an attack by quantum computers making it more safer.

What are the main privacy mechanisms used by the Steem Blockchain?

Privacy mechanisms are used to ensure that transactions, addresses and messages initiated within the Blockchain are only seen by the sender and recipient.

Right now, I know that the Use of the memo private key can be used to send messages on the platform which is only visible to the sender and the receiver.

For example, I want to send an encrypted message to Mr B, I will go to the transfer option on the wallet, type the username I want to send the message to, go to the memo box, type the hash key first and then followed by the message and send.

No third party will be able to see the message since it is encrypted, but the recipient will see the message by logging in with his memo key. This will decrypt the message sent and the person can them read.

I also know that in steemit, we have a privacy mechanism where you can hide your transaction and its history such that no other user can see them. No other public eye will be able to know the details of the transaction .

Conclusion

Privacy is paramount in Blockchain network. This protects users from fraudsters and being exposed to unwanted elements.

Privacy also mean absolute decentralization so to speak. So it is a must in the chain age we find ourselves today.

Truly, learning never ends. Thank you all for going through, I invite @steemdoctor1 @yancar and @starrchris to take part. Success to you all!