Fragmented encryption of a secret

An apparatus comprising:

• a key module that generates a secret, the secret divided into a plurality of secret segments, wherein the secret is re-constructed by combining each of the plurality of secret segments;
• a group module that assigns each user of a plurality of users to one or more groups of users, wherein a total number of users assigned to each group is not larger than a number of bits in the secret;
• a map module that maps each of the plurality of secret segments of the secret to one or more of the plurality of users as a function of a number of users within each group by:
• determining, for each group, a total number of users within the group;
• calculating, for each group, a number of users of the group that are required for providing a secret segment of the secret that is associated with the users within the group;
• and
• generating a map comprising a plurality of rows and columns, each row corresponding to a user and each column corresponding to a secret segment of the secret, wherein an intersection of a row and column comprises a value that indicates whether the user is assigned the corresponding secret segment of the secret, the number of secret segments generated as a function of the number of columns in the map, wherein a bit length of the secret is divided by the number of columns in the map to determine the number of secret segments;
• an encoding module that encodes each of the plurality of secret segments in a predefined format based on the mapping;
• and
• a distribution module that distributes each of the plurality of encoded secret segments to each of the one or more users that is mapped to each encoded secret segment.

A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program code embodied therein, the program code readable/executable by a processor for:

• generating a secret, the secret divided into a plurality of secret segments, wherein the secret is re-constructed by combining each of the plurality of secret segments;
• assigning each user of a plurality of users to one or more groups of users, wherein a total number of users assigned to each group is not larger than a number of bits in the secret;
• mapping each of the plurality of secret segments of the secret to one or more of the plurality of users as a function of a number of users within each group by:
• determining, for each group, a total number of users within the group;
• calculating, for each group, a number of users of the group that are required for providing a secret segment of the secret that is associated with the users within the group;
• and
• generating a map comprising a plurality of rows and columns, each row corresponding to a user and each column corresponding to a secret segment of the secret, wherein an intersection of a row and column comprises a value that indicates whether the user is assigned the corresponding secret segment of the secret, the number of secret segments generated as a function of the number of columns in the map, wherein a bit length of the secret is divided by the number of columns in the map to determine the number of secret segments;
• encoding each of the plurality of secret segments in a predefined format based on the mapping;
• and
• distributing each of the plurality of encoded secret segments to each of the one or more users that is mapped to each encoded secret segment.