What’s the primary purpose of data masking?

A.  Data Encryption

B.  Data Integrity

C.  Data Obfuscation

D.  Data Reduction

Answer:  C

Explanation:

Data Obfuscation: Data masking, also known as data obfuscation or data anonymization, is primarily used to protect the data subject's data privacy. It replaces private or sensitive information with fake or pseudonymous data, allowing the data to be used for testing or analytics without exposing the sensitive information.

Here's a breakdown of the other options:

Data Encryption: While encryption also protects data, it is reversible if you have the appropriate key. Data masking is typically irreversible and is not meant to be decrypted back to its original form.

Data Integrity: Data masking doesn't aim to ensure that data is unaltered; rather, it intentionally alters data to protect the sensitive information it contains.

Data Reduction: This is about reducing the amount of data stored or transmitted, not about protecting the content of the data.

Therefore, the primary purpose of data masking is data obfuscation.