What Is Data Masking?
Data masking is a technique that replaces sensitive information with realistic but fictitious data, preserving the format and structure of the original while removing its identifiable meaning. The goal is to keep data usable for development, testing, analytics, or sharing — without exposing real personally identifiable information (PII).
Common masking techniques include:
Substitution — Replace a real value with a plausible fake (e.g., Alice Smith → Jane Doe).
Masking (partial obscuring) — Show only a portion of the value (e.g., 4111-1111-1111-1234 → ****-****-****-1234).
