# Dubhe: Towards Data Unbiasedness with Homomorphic Encryption in Federated Learning Client Selection

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2109.04253 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.04253/

## Key facts

- Cited by 7 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 23 of its 36 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 8 Sep 2021.

## Builds on (most cited first, 23 of 23)

- [Communication-Efficient Learning of Deep Networks from Decentralized Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1602.05629/) (2016)
- [Federated Optimization in Heterogeneous Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.06127/) (2018)
- [Class-Balanced Loss Based on Effective Number of Samples](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1901.05555/) (2019)
- [Federated Learning with Non-IID Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1806.00582/) (2018)
- [Adaptive Federated Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.00295/) (2020)
- [Tackling the Objective Inconsistency Problem in Heterogeneous Federated Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.07481/) (2020)
- [LEAF: A Benchmark for Federated Settings](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.01097/) (2018)
- [Differentially Private Federated Learning: A Client Level Perspective](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1712.07557/) (2017)
- [A Survey on Federated Learning Systems: Vision, Hype and Reality for Data Privacy and Protection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1907.09693/) (2019)
- [Client Selection for Federated Learning with Heterogeneous Resources in Mobile Edge](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.08333/) (2018)
- [Deep Models Under the GAN: Information Leakage from Collaborative Deep Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1702.07464/) (2017)
- [The Non-IID Data Quagmire of Decentralized Machine Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.00189/) (2019)
- [FedML: A Research Library and Benchmark for Federated Machine Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.13518/) (2020)
- [Beyond Inferring Class Representatives: User-Level Privacy Leakage From Federated Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.00535/) (2018)
- [A Hybrid Approach to Privacy-Preserving Federated Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.03224/) (2018)
- [Client Selection in Federated Learning: Convergence Analysis and Power-of-Choice Selection Strategies](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.01243/) (2020)
- [Private federated learning on vertically partitioned data via entity resolution and additively homomorphic encryption](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.10677/) (2017)
- [Federated Learning for Wireless Communications: Motivation, Opportunities and Challenges](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.06847/) (2019)
- [Federated Visual Classification with Real-World Data Distribution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.08082/) (2020)
- [An Analysis of Deep Neural Network Models for Practical Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1605.07678/) (2016)
- [TiFL: A Tier-based Federated Learning System](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2001.09249/) (2020)
- [Active Federated Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.12641/) (2019)
- [Addressing Class Imbalance in Federated Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2008.06217/) (2020)

## Built on by (most cited first, 7 of 7)

- [Over-The-Air Federated Learning: Status Quo, Open Challenges, and Future Directions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.00974/) (2023)
- [A Survey on Class Imbalance in Federated Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.11673/) (2023)
- [A Comprehensive Survey of Federated Transfer Learning: Challenges, Methods and Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.01387/) (2024)
- [A Systematic Literature Review on Client Selection in Federated Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.04862/) (2023)
- [User Assignment and Resource Allocation for Hierarchical Federated Learning over Wireless Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.09253/) (2023)
- [FedWCM: Unleashing the Potential of Momentum-based Federated Learning in Long-Tailed Scenarios](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.14980/) (2025)
- [SenseCrypt: Sensitivity-guided Selective Homomorphic Encryption for Joint Federated Learning in Cross-Device Scenarios](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.04100/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Federated learning (FL) is a distributed machine learning paradigm that allows clients to collaboratively train a model over their own local data. FL promises the privacy of clients and its security can be strengthened by cryptographic methods such as additively homomorphic encryption (HE). However, the efficiency of FL could seriously suffer from the statistical heterogeneity in both the data distribution discrepancy among clients and the global distribution skewness. We mathematically demonstrate the cause of performance degradation in FL and examine the performance of FL over various datasets. To tackle the statistical heterogeneity problem, we propose a pluggable system-level client selection method named Dubhe, which allows clients to proactively participate in training, meanwhile preserving their privacy with the assistance of HE. Experimental results show that Dubhe is comparable with the optimal greedy method on the classification accuracy, with negligible encryption and communication overhead.