End-to-Display Encryption: A Pixel-Domain Encryption with Security Benefit

Abstract

Providing secure access to confidential information is extremely difficult, notably when regarding weak endpoints and users. With the increasing number of corporate espionage cases and data leaks, a usable approach enhancing the security of data on endpoints is needed. In this paper we present our implementation for providing a new level of security for confidential documents that are viewed on a display. We call this End-to-Display Encryption (E2DE). E2DE encrypts images in the pixel-domain before transmitting them to the user. These images can then be displayed by arbitrary image viewers and are sent to the display. On the way to the display, the data stream is analyzed and the encrypted pixels are decrypted depending on a private key stored on a chip card inserted in the receiver, creating a viewable representation of the confidential data on the display, without decrypting the information on the computer itself. We implemented a prototype on a Digilent Atlys FPGA Board supporting resolutions up to Full HD.