Secure multi-party information retrieval

A method for secure multi-party information retrieval, the method comprising:

• receiving, at a given information processor of a collection of information processors, a request from a query processor to securely retrieve candidate terms similar to a query term in a query dataset;
• generating, for a given data processor of a plurality of data processors, clusters of a plurality of terms in a given dataset, the clusters based on similarity scores for pairs of terms;
• selecting a representative term from each cluster, wherein the representative term is a medoid of the respective cluster;
• generating, at the given information processor, a random permutation based on the request;
• determining, at the given information processor, similarity scores between a secured query term received from the query processor and secured representative terms received from the given data processor, the secured representative terms based on the random permutation;
• filtering, at the given data processor and without knowledge of the secured query term, the candidate terms of the plurality of terms based on the determined similarity scores;
• and
• providing the candidate terms to the given information processor.

A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising executable instructions to:

• initiate a request, from a query processor, for secure retrieval of candidate terms similar to a query term in a query dataset;
• receive the request at a given information processor of a collection of information processors;
• generate, at a given data processor of a plurality of data processors, clusters of a plurality of terms in a given dataset, based on similarity scores for pairs of terms;
• select a representative term from each cluster;
• generate, at the given information processor, a random permutation based on the request;
• determine, at the given information processor, similarity scores between a secured query term received from the query processor and secured representative terms received from the given data processor, the secured representative terms based on the random permutation;
• and
• filter, at the given data processor and without knowledge of the secured query term, the candidate terms of the plurality of terms based on the determined similarity scores.