Remote terminals are configured to generate ciphertexts from plaintext polynomials. Each ciphertext corresponds to a plaintext polynomial bound to a message space of a polynomial-based fully homomorphic cryptographic scheme. At least one server is configured to receive ciphertexts via a network from the plurality of remote terminals. The server performs a multiplication operation and an addition operation on the ciphertexts to obtain resultant ciphertexts. The multiplication operation includes performing a bitwise decomposition function on a ciphertext to obtain a bitwise decomposed ciphertext. The bitwise decomposition function maps a multi-bit data type to a sequence of bits. The multiplication operation further includes performing matrix multiplication on the bitwise decomposed ciphertext and a data element belonging to a set of data elements. Message filters, data search engines, and other applications are discussed.