Which technology allows a user to operate encrypted data without the need of decrypting it?

Homomorphic encryption is a transformative technology that enables users to perform computations on encrypted data without needing to decrypt it first. This feature is particularly valuable in maintaining data privacy and security, as it allows sensitive information to be processed while remaining encrypted, thus minimizing the risk of exposure or data breaches during processing.

The importance of this capability lies in its application in cloud computing and other environments where data integrity and confidentiality are paramount. By allowing operations to be conducted directly on encrypted data, homomorphic encryption supports secure data processing, ensuring that sensitive information can be used for analytics or other purposes without ever exposing the underlying plaintext.

The other technologies mentioned do not offer the same functionality. Data anonymization typically involves transforming data to protect identities, but once data is anonymized, it is no longer suitable for its original analytical purposes in its encrypted form. Bit splitting involves dividing data into segments for processing or storage but does not allow operations on the data without decrypting it. Secret sharing made short refers to distributing a secret among different parties such that a subset can reconstruct the secret, but again, it does not allow for operations on encrypted data directly.