Data Masking is a passive transformation added to Informatica version 8.6 which can be used to mask confidential data when transferring data to untrusted destinations.
You pass in the columns to be masked to the input group and then configure the masking formats for each input port. The resulting output ports will contain data that looks realistic but is actually masked.
It is very useful in situation where you need to keep the non-prod environment data in sync with prod data for maintaining high quality test environments.
It also helps to maintain referential integrity between the data but still mask the key which is used for referential integrity.
Masking rules are dependent on the source data type and the masking type configured for the port.
Each masking type has different masking rules and associated properties that you need to configure.
Below mentioned masking types are available:-
1) Key Masking
Masks the key value and produces deterministic results for a combination of input key value, masking rule and seed value.
2) Substitution Masking
Replaces the input column data with a value from a dictionary file or table
3) Dependent Masking
Replaces the value of the input column based on the value of another column
4) Random Masking
Replaces input column value with random values for same source data and masking rule
5) Expression Masking
Uses informatica transformation functions to mask and replace data in source columns
6) Special Mask formats
Replaces realistic fake values for fields like credit cards, addresses , and social security numbers etc.
7) No Masking
Default is No masking
After selecting the masking type you have to select the available masking rules and configure them according to your requirements.
Examples coming in the next post.