Generate a configuration backup with obfuscated (anonymized) data.

Question

The purpose would be to migrate a safe copy of the configuration and data to a test, dev or training environment.

This data could be used for training purposes or to test/debug difficult-to-replicate production issues.

This would be especially useful when exporting config/data for dbFront support.

The obfuscated data should have the same characteristics as the source data but it should be impossible to extract any meaningful personal information.

Answer 1

dbFront 1.1.2.273 now allows you to optionally obfuscate or anonymize one or more tables during the export process.

All fields in the selected tables are obfuscated except key fields (Primary & Foreign Keys, and Unique Indexes).

The obfuscation process:

• Overwrites all alphanumeric characters with a random character of the matching type. Uppercase, Lowercase and Digits are handled separately,
• Replaces vowels with consonants to avoid creating real words,
• Overwrites all numeric digits,
• Shifts dates randomly +/- 90 days,
• Randomizes boolean values,
• Discards all BLOB values.

The intention is to create "valid" data that retains the original structure and characteristics but in which all identifiable information has been overwritten. The original length of all values is intentionally retained.

The objective is to create Test / Demo / Sample data that you can safely give to 3rd parties.

WARNING: Please scan the data before handing it to a 3rd party. It is possible that key fields or unique indexes might prevent the obfuscation of specific columns. It may be necessary to strip unique indexes before the export or perform other transformations on the data to complete the process.

For more details see: Export / Import