<s>
Data	B-General_Concept
masking	I-General_Concept
or	O
data	B-General_Concept
obfuscation	I-General_Concept
is	O
the	O
process	O
of	O
modifying	O
sensitive	O
data	O
in	O
such	O
a	O
way	O
that	O
it	O
is	O
of	O
no	O
or	O
little	O
value	O
to	O
unauthorized	O
intruders	O
while	O
still	O
being	O
usable	O
by	O
software	O
or	O
authorized	O
personnel	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	B-General_Concept
masking	I-General_Concept
can	O
also	O
be	O
referred	O
as	O
anonymization	O
,	O
or	O
tokenization	O
,	O
depending	O
on	O
different	O
context	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
other	O
words	O
,	O
where	O
data	O
is	O
needed	O
for	O
the	O
purpose	O
of	O
application	B-Application
development	I-Application
,	O
building	O
program	O
extensions	O
and	O
conducting	O
various	O
test	O
cycles	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
overall	O
practice	O
of	O
data	B-General_Concept
masking	I-General_Concept
at	O
an	O
organizational	O
level	O
should	O
be	O
tightly	O
coupled	O
with	O
the	O
test	O
management	O
practice	O
and	O
underlying	O
methodology	O
and	O
should	O
incorporate	O
processes	O
for	O
the	O
distribution	O
of	O
masked	O
test	O
data	O
subsets	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	O
involved	O
in	O
any	O
data	B-General_Concept
masking	I-General_Concept
or	O
obfuscation	O
must	O
remain	O
meaningful	O
at	O
several	O
levels	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
same	O
is	O
also	O
true	O
for	O
credit-card	B-Algorithm
algorithm	I-Algorithm
validation	I-Algorithm
checks	O
and	O
Social	O
Security	O
Number	O
validations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Accordingly	O
,	O
data	B-General_Concept
obfuscation	I-General_Concept
or	O
masking	O
of	O
a	O
data-set	O
applies	O
in	O
such	O
a	O
manner	O
as	O
to	O
ensure	O
that	O
identity	O
and	O
sensitive	O
data	O
records	O
are	O
protected	O
-	O
not	O
just	O
the	O
individual	O
data	O
elements	O
in	O
discrete	O
fields	O
and	O
tables	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Substitution	O
is	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
most	O
effective	O
methods	O
of	O
applying	O
data	B-General_Concept
masking	I-General_Concept
and	O
being	O
able	O
to	O
preserve	O
the	O
authentic	O
look	O
and	O
feel	O
of	O
the	O
data	O
records	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
substitution	O
method	O
needs	O
to	O
be	O
applied	O
for	O
many	O
of	O
the	O
fields	O
that	O
are	O
in	O
database	O
structures	O
across	O
the	O
world	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
telephone	O
numbers	O
,	O
zip	O
codes	O
and	O
postcodes	O
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
credit	O
card	O
numbers	O
and	O
other	O
card	O
type	O
numbers	O
like	O
Social	O
Security	O
numbers	O
and	O
Medicare	O
numbers	O
where	O
these	O
numbers	O
actually	O
need	O
to	O
conform	O
to	O
a	O
checksum	O
test	O
of	O
the	O
Luhn	B-Algorithm
algorithm	I-Algorithm
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
most	O
cases	O
,	O
the	O
substitution	O
files	O
will	O
need	O
to	O
be	O
fairly	O
extensive	O
so	O
having	O
large	O
substitution	O
datasets	O
as	O
well	O
the	O
ability	O
to	O
apply	O
customized	O
data	O
substitution	O
sets	O
should	O
be	O
a	O
key	O
element	O
of	O
the	O
evaluation	O
criteria	O
for	O
any	O
data	B-General_Concept
masking	I-General_Concept
solution	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
shuffling	O
method	O
is	O
a	O
very	O
common	O
form	O
of	O
data	B-General_Concept
obfuscation	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Encryption	O
is	O
often	O
the	O
most	O
complex	O
approach	O
to	O
solving	O
the	O
data	B-General_Concept
masking	I-General_Concept
problem	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
New	O
challenge	O
gave	O
birth	O
to	O
algorithms	O
performing	O
format-preserving	B-Algorithm
encryption	I-Algorithm
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
also	O
highlights	O
to	O
anyone	O
that	O
wishes	O
to	O
reverse	O
engineer	O
any	O
of	O
the	O
identity	O
data	O
that	O
data	B-General_Concept
masking	I-General_Concept
has	O
been	O
applied	O
to	O
some	O
degree	O
on	O
the	O
data	O
set	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
also	O
commonly	O
known	O
as	O
a	O
dynamic	O
data	B-General_Concept
masking	I-General_Concept
method	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	B-General_Concept
masking	I-General_Concept
is	O
tightly	O
coupled	O
with	O
building	O
test	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Two	O
major	O
types	O
of	O
data	B-General_Concept
masking	I-General_Concept
are	O
static	O
and	O
on-the-fly	O
data	B-General_Concept
masking	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Static	O
data	B-General_Concept
masking	I-General_Concept
is	O
usually	O
performed	O
on	O
the	O
golden	O
copy	O
of	O
the	O
database	O
,	O
but	O
can	O
also	O
be	O
applied	O
to	O
values	O
in	O
other	O
sources	O
,	O
including	O
files	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
DB	O
environments	O
,	O
production	O
database	O
administrators	O
will	O
typically	O
load	O
table	O
backups	O
to	O
a	O
separate	O
environment	O
,	O
reduce	O
the	O
dataset	O
to	O
a	O
subset	O
that	O
holds	O
the	O
data	O
necessary	O
for	O
a	O
particular	O
round	O
of	O
testing	O
(	O
a	O
technique	O
called	O
"	O
subsetting	O
"	O
)	O
,	O
apply	O
data	B-General_Concept
masking	I-General_Concept
rules	O
while	O
data	O
is	O
in	O
stasis	O
,	O
apply	O
necessary	O
code	O
changes	O
from	O
source	O
control	O
,	O
and/or	O
and	O
push	O
data	O
to	O
desired	O
environment	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
are	O
also	O
alternatives	O
to	O
the	O
static	O
data	B-General_Concept
masking	I-General_Concept
that	O
rely	O
on	O
stochastic	O
perturbations	O
of	O
the	O
data	O
that	O
preserve	O
some	O
of	O
the	O
statistical	O
properties	O
of	O
the	O
original	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On-the-fly	O
data	B-General_Concept
masking	I-General_Concept
happens	O
in	O
the	O
process	O
of	O
transferring	O
data	O
from	O
environment	O
to	O
environment	O
without	O
data	O
touching	O
the	O
disk	O
on	O
its	O
way	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
same	O
technique	O
is	O
applied	O
to	O
"	O
Dynamic	O
Data	B-General_Concept
Masking	I-General_Concept
"	O
but	O
one	O
record	O
at	O
a	O
time	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
type	O
of	O
data	B-General_Concept
masking	I-General_Concept
is	O
most	O
useful	O
for	O
environments	O
that	O
do	O
continuous	O
deployments	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
for	O
heavily	O
integrated	O
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Having	O
on-the-fly	O
data	B-General_Concept
masking	I-General_Concept
in	O
place	O
becomes	O
essential	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Dynamic	O
data	B-General_Concept
masking	I-General_Concept
is	O
similar	O
to	O
on-the-fly	O
data	B-General_Concept
masking	I-General_Concept
,	O
but	O
it	O
differs	O
in	O
the	O
sense	O
that	O
on-the-fly	O
data	B-General_Concept
masking	I-General_Concept
is	O
about	O
copying	O
data	O
from	O
one	O
source	O
to	O
another	O
source	O
so	O
that	O
the	O
latter	O
can	O
be	O
shared	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Dynamic	O
data	B-General_Concept
masking	I-General_Concept
happens	O
at	O
runtime	O
,	O
dynamically	O
,	O
and	O
on-demand	O
so	O
that	O
there	O
does	O
n't	O
need	O
to	O
be	O
a	O
second	O
data	O
source	O
where	O
to	O
store	O
the	O
masked	O
data	O
dynamically	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Dynamic	O
data	B-General_Concept
masking	I-General_Concept
enables	O
several	O
scenarios	O
,	O
many	O
of	O
which	O
revolve	O
around	O
strict	O
privacy	O
regulations	O
e.g.	O
</s>
<s>
Dynamic	O
data	B-General_Concept
masking	I-General_Concept
is	O
attribute-based	O
and	O
policy-driven	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Doctors	O
cannot	O
view	O
the	O
SSN	O
field	O
inside	O
a	O
medical	O
record	O
(	O
data	B-General_Concept
masking	I-General_Concept
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Dynamic	O
data	B-General_Concept
masking	I-General_Concept
can	O
also	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
encrypt	O
or	O
decrypt	O
values	O
on	O
the	O
fly	O
especially	O
when	O
using	O
format-preserving	B-Algorithm
encryption	I-Algorithm
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
are	O
six	O
possible	O
technologies	O
to	O
apply	O
Dynamic	O
data	B-General_Concept
masking	I-General_Concept
:	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
sql	O
queries	O
are	O
rewritten	O
,	O
but	O
when	O
implemented	O
this	O
type	O
of	O
dynamic	O
data	B-General_Concept
masking	I-General_Concept
also	O
supported	O
within	O
store	O
procedures	O
and	O
database	O
functions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Supported	O
by	O
a	O
browser	O
plugin	O
:	O
In	O
the	O
case	O
of	O
SaaS	B-Architecture
or	O
local	O
web	O
applications	O
,	O
browser	O
add-ons	O
can	O
be	O
configured	O
to	O
mask	O
data	O
fields	O
corresponding	O
to	O
precise	O
CSS	O
Selectors	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
cloud	O
solutions	O
as	O
of	O
now	O
allow	O
organizations	O
to	O
use	O
infrastructure	B-General_Concept
as	I-General_Concept
a	I-General_Concept
service	I-General_Concept
,	O
platform	B-Application
as	I-Application
a	I-Application
service	I-Application
,	O
and	O
software	B-Architecture
as	I-Architecture
a	I-Architecture
service	I-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
Dynamic	O
Data	B-General_Concept
Masking	I-General_Concept
becomes	O
even	O
more	O
critical	O
in	O
cloud	O
when	O
customers	O
need	O
to	O
protecting	O
PII	O
data	O
while	O
relying	O
on	O
cloud	O
providers	O
to	O
administer	O
their	O
databases	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	B-General_Concept
masking	I-General_Concept
invariably	O
becomes	O
the	O
part	O
of	O
these	O
processes	O
in	O
the	O
systems	B-General_Concept
development	I-General_Concept
life	I-General_Concept
cycle	I-General_Concept
(	O
SDLC	O
)	O
as	O
the	O
development	O
environments	O
 '	O
service-level	O
agreements	O
(	O
SLAs	O
)	O
are	O
usually	O
not	O
as	O
stringent	O
as	O
the	O
production	O
environments	O
 '	O
SLAs	O
regardless	O
of	O
whether	O
application	O
is	O
hosted	O
in	O
the	O
cloud	O
or	O
on-premises	O
.	O
</s>
