We’re thrilled to announce that as of  April 11th 2024, Data Masking is a free feature included in the base subscription for all Fusion SKUs! This means all Fusion customers gain access to a powerful tool for protecting sensitive data in non-production environments.

What is Data Masking?

what is data masking

Data masking, also known as data scrambling, is the process of obscuring sensitive information copied from a production database with internally-consistent, scrubbed data based on masking rules, to a test or non-production database.

Fusion data masking is a process of applying a pattern or algorithm designed to scramble data in a non-production environment with the goal to reduce exposing personally identifiable information (PII) to unauthorized people. Data will look different every time you mask it.

Why Data Masking?

Remove sensitive data from test, development, analytics, and other non-production environments.

Some customers desire non-production environments for activities such as staging and training. In these non-production environments, customers may not want to use actual production data but would still like to use internally consistent data sets. Fusion data masking process is designed to mask specific entities and fields in non-production environments in a way that is designed to protect the original data from being exposed while maintaining production-like views.

How Does This Impact Customers?

As of April 11th, Data Masking became a free feature included in the base subscription for all Fusion SKUs. This exciting change has several implications:

    1. Cost Savings: Fusion customers no longer need to pay extra for Data Masking. It’s now part of the standard offering.
    2. Enhanced Security: By enabling Data Masking, organizations can protect sensitive data during development, testing, and other non-production activities.
    3. Streamlined Workflows: Refreshing non-production environments (e.g., copying data from production) becomes simpler and more secure.

How to Perform Data Masking:

  • If you are using My Services refer My Oracle Support (MOS) Doc.ID (below table)

options

MOS Doc. ID

Notes

Standalone

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Standalone data masking supports three use cases:

·       You have loaded real worker data into a non-production environment using an inbound integration tool such as HCM Data Loader and want to mask PII before releasing it to users; or

·       *You previously copied data from your Fusion production environment to a non-production environment using the environment refresh service and now want to mask PII before releasing it to users. 

·       You previously copied data from one Fusion non-production environment to a second Fusion non-production environment using the environment refresh service and now want to mask PII before releasing it to users. 

*Typically requested as part of P2T

Combined with a Fusion environment refresh service

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Currently there are two different types of environment refresh services available for our customers:

  1. Production-To-Test (P2T): From a production environment to a non-production environment
  2. Test-To-Test (T2T): From a non-production environment to another non-production environment, for those customers with multiple non-production environments.

Combined with a Fusion environment refresh that is coordinated with a Taleo Zone Refresh

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Oracle coordinates environment refreshes for your integrated Fusion HCM and Taleo Recruiting environments.

 

  • If you are using Cloud Console, you have options ‘Running Data Masking with an Environment Refresh’, ‘Running Data Masking as a Standalone Job’, ‘Viewing Data Masking History’. For more information refer Data Masking documentation.

Screenshot of the refresh environment page highlighting the data masking option

What Action Do Customers Need to Take?

Customers can easily enable Data Masking through either a Service Request (SR) or directly through the Cloud console.

SKU B85243 (Data Masking for Fusion Cloud Services) will reach its End-of-Life (EOL) on April 11th, 2024. Existing customers with this SKU will be automatically transitioned to the free Data Masking feature.

With free Data Masking now available, Fusion offers an even more compelling value proposition. Organizations can strengthen their data security posture while ensuring smooth development and testing processes.