How to ensure data privacy in test environments?

How to ensure data privacy in test environments?

Data must be protected at all stages of the process, particularly in test environments. During the testing process, customer and vendor data can be exposed to development teams and IT service providers. Any misuse of this information can cause serious problems for the data carrier, since it seriously undermines its reputation and hence its image. Thus, protecting data in test environments is essential to ensure that all information is 100% secure. In today’s article, we leave you with some tips so you can ensure data privacy in test environments!

Data Masking Techniques

Masking the data has the main purpose of protecting confidential data against unauthorized access. In practice, data masking tools create a version similar to the original data in terms of structure but without revealing its true information. In fact, its original format remains unchanged but the data presented is fictitious. Masked data can be used in test and auditing environments without compromising the result of the analysis, but always ensuring the confidentiality of sensitive information. A manual process to protect data consumes a lot of time and human resources so the best option is to resort to tools that do the process automatically, such as Datapeers.

Rule Logic

This rule logic provides a syntax very similar to Java, creating disguise rules that allow you to include business rules within the disguise rule. This includes the ability to apply own disguise actions for each value. The correct combination of disguise techniques and rule logics allows us to respond to every requirement of disguise by a company.

Compliance with legal regulations

The use of real-time data in the test processes has some risks as the data used is less secure and this has led to the creation of data privacy regulations that require, among other things, secure test data. By using the privacy of test data in all environments, companies can meet all requirements to protect themselves throughout the process. It is advisable for companies to appoint a responsible person to deal with all data protection related issues, as this will only prevent the large fines that the regulations cover.

Create a rigid security policy

The security policy is a document developed by the company that records the principles of security that the company adopts and that must be followed by the employees. The security policy should be applied to all information systems, both desktop and mobile. For policy to be respected, it is essential that top managers participate in its implementation.

Automate as many tasks as possible

Many tasks in the area of ​​information technologies are quite repetitive, which leads to demotivation by human resources and increases the probability of failures on the part of these. Automating processes is a way to reduce IT costs, as it is not necessary to highlight a collaborator to be exclusively dedicated to monotonous tasks. Automation reduces the time that the tasks take to execute and decreases the probability of human error. This is one of the most effective safety precautions you can implement.

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