Embrace Obfuscation (Data Masking, Scrambling, etc)

Have you seen “Eschew Obfuscation”? It is intended to bring about clarity in communications, and asking people to be straight-forward. But in the world of data security, we need to do the opposite. So, let’s embrace obfuscation!

Obfuscation, in the context of my discussons, means data masking - the substitution of sensitive information by similar and realistic looking information. Data Masking is a much worthy alternative to encryption - in terms of efficiency, time to implement, changes to existing process, etc.

Look for a posting that discusses Encryption vs Masking.

I have decided to join the rolls of the blogosphere by blogging about data masking. I founded a company in 2004 to address security issues in non-production ERP databases - and our solution was a product called iScramble (www.mentisoftware.com/iScramble.html) to address specifically the challenges when embarking on a data masking project, and to provide an automated, easy-to-use, quick-to-deploy solution for the same.

 Over the next several posts, I will talk about the need, the business case, lessons learned, and what to look for when selecting a masking product/ solution.

Your comments, suggestions, thoughts, critiques are most welcome!

Best,

Rajesh Parthasarathy

Data Masking advocate