Data Privacy laws require the ability to mask data by hiding the original values with modified content. Fabric provides a field-level API to protect data classified as Personal Identifiable Information, sensitive personal data, or commercially sensitive data.
To ensure that the data are still valid for your data lifecycle management, the masked data will look real and appear consistent.
This capability can be used to conduct tests, implement data transformations, or serve anonymized data to external 3rd parties via web services or queue messages.
The masking of sensitive data can be done either by the LUI sync using the LU Table Population Broadway Flow (which masks the data before they are saved into Fabric), or by using a Broadway flow to mask the LUI data before they are loaded to the target.
The following diagram describes the masking process of sensitive data using an LUI sync:
The following diagram describes the masking process of sensitive data before loading the data to the target:
The masking process is executed by Broadway Actors that enable masking sensitive data before they are loaded into a target database or even into Fabric. The masking process contains the generation (manufacturing) of a random synthetic value that replaces the real value, and the caching of the hashed original value and the masked value in order to keep the referential integrity of the data. Starting from V7.1, Fabric separates data generation (manufacturing) from the hashing and caching capabilities. Broadway provides the following Actors:
The masking Actors use the Fabric hashing utility to hash the original value and save the mapping of the hashed value and the masked value to the cache table.
Click here to read how to use Fabric's masking Broadway Actors.
Click here to read more about Fabric hashing mechanism.
K2view enables users to create their own masking functions:
The use of MaskingLuFunction, MaskingInnerFlow or Masking Actors guarantees the usage of the K2view masking mechanism including SHA-512/256 hashing and caching. The user does not need to handle them by their customized function.
Fabric 8.0 adds a new optional parameter to the Masking Actor: formatter. This parameter can be set with either a formatter flow or an Actor in order to preserve the original format in the masked value and to set the same masked values to all fields that have the same normalized (’naked‘) value, although they have a different format.
Example:
Original Value |
Masked Value |
+1 (254) 455 5666 |
+1 (254) 430 8992 |
+1(254)4555666 |
+1(254)4308992 |
+1 (254)-455-5666 |
+1 (254)-430-8992 |
The following diagram describes how the Masking Actor uses the formatter for preserving the original format in the masked value:
Click here for more information about the formatter flows and Actors.
In some cases there is a business need to retrieve the original value of the masked LUI. For example, retrieve a mailing address in order to contact the customer.
There are 2 recommended approaches to support de-anonymization and retrieve the original value of the masked field:
Keep the source Instance ID in Fabric and use it to retrieve the original data from the source system.
Keep the encrypted version (each Instance is encrypted separately) of the original values in Fabric only, in addition to the anonymized values. Limit the access to the anonymized data. Only permitted users can access the original values.
Click here for more information about the LUI encryption.
Data Privacy laws require the ability to mask data by hiding the original values with modified content. Fabric provides a field-level API to protect data classified as Personal Identifiable Information, sensitive personal data, or commercially sensitive data.
To ensure that the data are still valid for your data lifecycle management, the masked data will look real and appear consistent.
This capability can be used to conduct tests, implement data transformations, or serve anonymized data to external 3rd parties via web services or queue messages.
The masking of sensitive data can be done either by the LUI sync using the LU Table Population Broadway Flow (which masks the data before they are saved into Fabric), or by using a Broadway flow to mask the LUI data before they are loaded to the target.
The following diagram describes the masking process of sensitive data using an LUI sync:
The following diagram describes the masking process of sensitive data before loading the data to the target:
The masking process is executed by Broadway Actors that enable masking sensitive data before they are loaded into a target database or even into Fabric. The masking process contains the generation (manufacturing) of a random synthetic value that replaces the real value, and the caching of the hashed original value and the masked value in order to keep the referential integrity of the data. Starting from V7.1, Fabric separates data generation (manufacturing) from the hashing and caching capabilities. Broadway provides the following Actors:
The masking Actors use the Fabric hashing utility to hash the original value and save the mapping of the hashed value and the masked value to the cache table.
Click here to read how to use Fabric's masking Broadway Actors.
Click here to read more about Fabric hashing mechanism.
K2view enables users to create their own masking functions:
The use of MaskingLuFunction, MaskingInnerFlow or Masking Actors guarantees the usage of the K2view masking mechanism including SHA-512/256 hashing and caching. The user does not need to handle them by their customized function.
Fabric 8.0 adds a new optional parameter to the Masking Actor: formatter. This parameter can be set with either a formatter flow or an Actor in order to preserve the original format in the masked value and to set the same masked values to all fields that have the same normalized (’naked‘) value, although they have a different format.
Example:
Original Value |
Masked Value |
+1 (254) 455 5666 |
+1 (254) 430 8992 |
+1(254)4555666 |
+1(254)4308992 |
+1 (254)-455-5666 |
+1 (254)-430-8992 |
The following diagram describes how the Masking Actor uses the formatter for preserving the original format in the masked value:
Click here for more information about the formatter flows and Actors.
In some cases there is a business need to retrieve the original value of the masked LUI. For example, retrieve a mailing address in order to contact the customer.
There are 2 recommended approaches to support de-anonymization and retrieve the original value of the masked field:
Keep the source Instance ID in Fabric and use it to retrieve the original data from the source system.
Keep the encrypted version (each Instance is encrypted separately) of the original values in Fabric only, in addition to the anonymized values. Limit the access to the anonymized data. Only permitted users can access the original values.
Click here for more information about the LUI encryption.