# Proving Erasure

## TL;DR

This paper explores whether quantum mechanics can enable a server to verifiably prove data deletion through a BB84-like protocol, introducing privacy delegation as a new concept for secure remote data management.

## Contribution

It introduces privacy delegation as an alternative to encryption and applies it to develop protocols for provable deletion and remote data storage with partial security analysis.

## Key findings

- Proposed a BB84-like protocol for verifiable data deletion.
- Identified vulnerabilities to targeted eavesdropping attacks.
- Introduced the concept of privacy delegation for data security.

## Abstract

It seems impossible to certify that a remote hosting service does not leak its users' data --- or does quantum mechanics make it possible? We investigate if a server hosting data can information-theoretically prove its definite deletion using a "BB84-like" protocol. To do so, we first rigorously introduce an alternative to privacy by encryption: privacy delegation. We then apply this novel concept to provable deletion and remote data storage. For both tasks, we present a protocol, sketch its partial security, and display its vulnerability to eavesdropping attacks targeting only a few bits.