What is Data Masking?
Data masking replaces sensitive data with realistic but fictitious values, protecting privacy while maintaining data utility for testing, development, and analytics.
Data masking (also called data obfuscation) replaces sensitive personal data with modified content that looks realistic but cannot be used to identify individuals. Static masking permanently transforms data in non-production environments, while dynamic masking applies real-time transformations at query time without modifying stored data.
Data masking is essential for privacy compliance in development and testing environments where production personal data should not be used. ProtectIQ provides both static and dynamic data masking with format-preserving transformations that maintain referential integrity across related tables.
Relevant Regulations
Related Terms
Data Tokenization
Tokenization replaces sensitive data with non-sensitive tokens that can be mapped back to the original data through a secure token vault, protecting data while preserving processability.
Data Anonymization
Anonymization irreversibly transforms personal data so that individuals can no longer be identified, even by the data controller, removing the data from privacy regulation scope.
Data Pseudonymization
Pseudonymization replaces direct identifiers with artificial identifiers, reducing privacy risk while maintaining data utility, but the data remains personal data under GDPR.
Data Encryption
Encryption transforms readable data into an unreadable format using cryptographic algorithms, protecting confidentiality by ensuring only authorized parties with the correct key can access the data.