Masking Integration

Owned by Michael Litner
Last updated: Nov 15, 2023 by Dima Urban (Unlicensed)
4 min read

To increase the security and privacy of your data the Data Virtualization Module can be integrated with an Accelario Masking service.

The integration with the masking service can be enabled during the Data Virtualization Module system setup process. After the integration is complete, the system can mask data in compliance with your specifications and policies.

To enable masking integration:

  1. On the navigation bar, click System Setup.

  2. In CONNECTION SETTINGS

  3. Click Masking service.

  4. Enter the connection settings.

5. Click Test Connection to verify that the connection setting settings are correct.

6. In PARAMETERS

7. Select a default Masking policy.

8. Click Save.

To mask a VDB:

  1. On the navigation bar, click VDB Management.

2. Click (Start Masking).

First time masking

To use data masking for a VDB for the first time, the system has a First time Masking option. This feature gives the steps to set up and apply masking rules for the first time on a databases that has not had masking configurations before.

If the First time Masking option is selected, it is necessary to go to the masking user interface to set up and assign masking rules. This step is very important as these rules set what data is masked and how it is done.

To set up first-time masking:

  1. Select First time Masking.

The system will direct you to the Sensitive Data Search screen in the Masking tool. In the next steps, it is necessary to set up the masking rules, save the masking configuration, and then to manually start the masking process.

If necessary enable pop-ups from this website.

To see detailed scan results:

  1. Click Details.

2. In the detailed window you can:

  • Click on the down arrow to expand details.

  • Select/clear check boxes to update the search result.

  • Click Save to File to share the results via file.

  • Click Hide low probability results to view only the columns that get Probability higher than the sensitive search threshold.

  • Click Update Masking to update the masking configuration with the new search results and to go to the Masking Editor.

Example for SQL databases:

To mask the selected table:

  1. Click Mask.

2. Fill in the masking details and click Mask.

3. Enter Advanced Parameters if necessary.

Masking with an existing configuration

The Masking with an existing configuration option is used when a masking configuration for the VDB was set up before. This feature lets you to easily apply the same set of masking rules to a new VDB.

To mask with an existing configuration:

  1. Select Masking with an existing configuration.

  2. In the list select a configuration.

The selected configuration will be loaded and then the masking process starts automatically. It will continue to run in the background.

After the masking process is complete, the VDB will be masked

Remove Masking

The Remove Masking function in the data virtualization system gives users the flexibility to disconnect the virtual database from the Masking service. This unlinks the Masking service from the specified virtual database. This removes the masking rules, data sources, environment prerequisites, and the related masking configurations.

To remove the masking from current VDB:

  1. Click Remove Masking.

After confirmation, the system unlinks the Masking service to the database. It also removes all related data sources, environment prerequisites, and masking policy rules that are assigned to this database in the Masking service.