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Data Masking for Convenience

  • September 24, 2015 at 12:09 am

    #321398

    Comments posted to this topic are about the item Data Masking for Convenience

  • September 24, 2015 at 6:52 am

    #1829114

    Wow, no comments to read today. I guess I haven't had the opportunity to use the masking feature. I'm not familiar with it. We certainly mask data as it is presented to clients on reports and what not, but we construct the output manually based on the data being displayed, such as Xing out the first part of Socials. Or are we talking about something totally different...

  • September 24, 2015 at 8:42 am

    #1829161

    I've never even heard of data masking. I had to look it up to find out what it is. Sounds useful; how is it used in SQL Server? What versions have it, or perhaps I should ask when was it introduced? Can you give me an example of its being used, please?

    Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.

  • September 24, 2015 at 9:09 am

    #1829174

    SQL Server "Dynamic Data Masking" is a perfect example of an IT vendor re-inventing the wheel and branding it, sort of like "Meta Data Services", "Always On Clustering", or "In-Memory Tables". The concept of "data masking" isn't new, I think it probably dates back to the time of ancient Rome or maybe earlier, but baking this feature into the database engine does simply coding for the developer, insuring that it's done using a technically solid, standard, and consistent pattern.

    "Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho

  • September 24, 2015 at 6:40 pm

    #1829346

    It's a bad idea to have sensitive data (e.g. a copy of Production data) in a Dev environment and it may actually be in breach of privacy laws and industry regulations that can leave you open to prosecution and large fines.

    According to the Ponemon Institute, insiders are the cause of most data breaches (ref '2014 Cost of Data Breach Study: Global Analysis'.) All it takes is someone to be a little negligent, lazy, or a rogue employee/consultant with a USB stick...

    You would be better off to use a static data masking tool to permanently overwrite a copy of the original data to make it anonymous but preserve as much of the original characteristics of the data as possible so that it will still suitable for dev/testing.

    Disclosure: I work for DataVeil, a static data masking software vendor.

  • September 25, 2015 at 7:45 am

    #1829449

    We've put together some learning links for you if you want to learn more about this (or other) new feature(s).

    http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Dynamic+Data+Masking/127554/

  • September 25, 2015 at 7:47 am

    #1829451

    Ross.Sp (9/24/2015)

    It's a bad idea to have sensitive data (e.g. a copy of Production data) in a Dev environment and it may actually be in breach of privacy laws and industry regulations that can leave you open to prosecution and large fines.

    According to the Ponemon Institute, insiders are the cause of most data breaches (ref '2014 Cost of Data Breach Study: Global Analysis'.) All it takes is someone to be a little negligent, lazy, or a rogue employee/consultant with a USB stick...

    You would be better off to use a static data masking tool to permanently overwrite a copy of the original data to make it anonymous but preserve as much of the original characteristics of the data as possible so that it will still suitable for dev/testing.

    Disclosure: I work for DataVeil, a static data masking software vendor.

    Good points, and this makes perfect sense. We need good tools to do this.

    In this case, the feature is made for production systems, where you might be querying certain data in an application, but you don't want production data completely shown to a user and want to include a mask.

  • September 25, 2015 at 9:30 am

    #1829536

    Steve Jones - SSC Editor (9/25/2015)

    We've put together some learning links for you if you want to learn more about this (or other) new feature(s).

    http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Dynamic+Data+Masking/127554/

    Thank you very much, Steve.

    Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.

  • November 15, 2015 at 10:04 am

    #1839847

    Very surprised to find this editorial from almost two months ago on a feature I had missed with so few comments.

    Thanks for the link to resources Steve.

    Gaz

    -- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!

  • November 19, 2015 at 8:30 am

    #1841025

    Cheers

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