Data masking is used to protect information in data management systems by preventing corruption and limiting access to relevant information. It involves encrypting data for testing and development purposes while masking sensitive data. Consistency in masking protocols is important, and any type of data can be protected. The process must be difficult to break for hackers but accessible for authorized users.
Data masking is a process used to protect information stored in different types of data management systems. The idea is to prevent data from being corrupted in any way, as well as ensure that users can only access information relevant to their security clearance. When the database masking techniques employed are successful, the original data is kept intact while the data masking still works in what appears to be a correct construct. Data masking helps minimize the risk of corporate security breaches, whether from insider threats of corporate espionage or illegal database access by hackers.
There are several approaches to data masking. Most will involve encrypting the data so it can still be used for testing and development purposes within the organization, but without the need to expose all sensitive data at once. An example might be found with retrieving information from a customer database at a credit card company. Customer service representatives might be able to see the last four numbers of a credit card or Social Security number, but the rest of the number would be masked in some way. This approach still allows the representative to retrieve certain information needed to help a customer, while masking access to data that is not needed to provide that assistance. As a result, customer data and privacy remain intact.
One of the key strategies in data masking is to make sure that once this mask is created for a piece of data, it should appear consistent throughout the system. Using the example of a credit card number, the same mask that hides all the last four digits of the number will appear every time the customer contacts customer service. This means that protocols for masking must be uniform while still being sufficient to protect the data from being used by unauthorized sources.
Any type of data can be protected using the foundations of data masking. It is possible to mask customer account numbers, addresses, geographical distributions and any other type of proprietary information that companies use as part of an ongoing operation. Typically, the processes used must be configured so that they cannot be overwritten, making it difficult for hackers to break the data mask. At the same time, the methods employed should not create a situation where those with the highest level of security clearance cannot access the data behind the mask when the need arises.
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