In one exemplary embodiment, a computer readable storage medium tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by a machine for performing operations including: receiving information B to be encrypted as a ciphertext C in accordance with an encryption scheme having an encrypt function; and encrypting B in accordance with the encrypt function to obtain C, the scheme utilizes at least one public key A, where B, C, and A are matrices, the encrypt function receives as inputs A and B and outputs C as C←AS+pX+B(mod q), S is a random matrix, X is an error matrix, p is in integer, q is an odd prime number. In other exemplary embodiments, the encryption scheme includes a decrypt function that receives as inputs at least one private key T (a matrix) and C and outputs B as B=T−1·(TCTt mod q)·(Tt)−1 mod p.