Performance analysis of private information retrieval scheme based on homomorphic encryption

Private Information Retrieval (PIR) is the fact that a client retrieves a certain record from a remote database managed by untrusted parties without letting them know which record has actually been requested, thus preserving the privacy of the client. Ostrovsky and Skeith showed in [1] that any homomorphic encryption can actually be used to achieve PIR. In this paper we use their protocol as basis to compare five well known homomorphic encryption schemes by providing simulation results.