DataMasking

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Overview

The DataMasking gem allows you to obfuscate sensitive string data in one or more columns. This can be useful for protecting personally identifiable information (PII) or other confidential values. This page describes the available masking methods in the gem and other configuration options.

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Prerequisites

• Add prophecy_basics package version 1.0.0 or higher to your project.

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Input and Output

The DataMasking gem accepts the following input and output.

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Parameters

Configure the DataMasking gem using the following parameters.

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Masked column options

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Substitute the new columns in place

The new values will appear in the original column.

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Add new columns with a prefix/suffix attached

The new values will appear in a new column that will have the original name with a prefix or suffix that you specify.

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Apply a single hash to all the selected columns at once

There will only be one new output column, regardless of the number of columns to apply masking on. This only applies to the hash masking method.

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Masking methods

Choose one of the following techniques to obfuscate string data. Some methods support additional configuration options.

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mask

Replaces characters in each string with substitute characters based on character type. Applies individually to each selected column. This method lets you optionally define the following additional parameters:

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hash

Applies a hash function to column values. This method will apply the hash in one of two ways:

• The hash function is applied to each input column individually, and a new output column will be created for each input column.
• The hash function is applied to all selected columns combined into a single hash value in a single new output column.

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crc32

Applies the CRC32 hash function to each selected column. This method has no additional parameters.

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sha

Applies the SHA-1 hash function to each selected column. This method has no additional parameters.

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sha2

Applies the SHA-2 hashing algorithm to each selected column. This method lets you select the bit length for masking:

• Bit length can be 224, 256, 384, or 512.

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md5

Applies the MD5 hash function to each selected column. This method has no additional parameters.

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Example

Assume you have a table that you would like to mask using the mask method. Using the default mask parameters, the string John.Doe123! will be converted to Xxxx.Xxxnnn!.