IBM unveils data-masking technology

[Brian Warkoczeski]

IBM unveils data-masking technology

July 14, 2009

by Matthew Broersma

www.cnet.com

IBM has released proof-of-concept technology designed to protect 
sensitive data used in industries such as health care without the need 
to modify existing applications.

Masking Gateway for Enterprises (Magen), unveiled last week, is designed 
to catch protected data before it reaches users' screens, IBM said. The 
technology, which runs on a server installed alongside existing server 
and client applications, was developed at IBM's Haifa research 
laboratory (http://www.haifa.ibm.com/) and takes its name from the 
Hebrew word for "protection" or "shield."

Magen treats a screen of information as a picture and uses optical 
character recognition to identify the parts that an administrator has 
identified as confidential, IBM said. The software then places a mask 
over the details that need to remain hidden, without ever copying, 
changing or processing the data itself.

It is designed for cases when information needs to be shared either 
internally or externally, for example to outsourcing organizations or 
marketers.

"Magen provides a common solution for all applications, regardless of 
their operating system and communication protocols," said Tamar Domany, 
project leader at IBM's Haifa lab, in a statement. "The solution is 
completely generic and can be used with any data, any application, and 
for different levels of authorization."

Existing data-masking technologies generally make copies of the data 
with the protected elements masked, according to IBM, but this process 
of copying creates more data that needs to be kept secure. Magen is 
designed to eliminate the need to make such copies by masking protected 
information on the fly.

"Using optical character recognition technology and predefined 
configurations enables us to provide masking without changing the client 
applications," Domany said.

The system can be quickly adapted by the administrator to respond to the 
introduction of new privacy regulations or new types of users, IBM said. 
The company has applied for patents on the word-scrambling and 
image-manipulation techniques used in Magen.

Magen competes with data-masking software from rival companies such as 
DataGuise and Oracle.