Systems, methods, and apparatuses for implementing data masking via compression dictionaries

Non-transitory computer readable storage media having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor in a host organization, the instructions cause the host organization to perform operations comprising:

• receiving customer data at the host organization via the processor, wherein receiving customer data at the host organization comprises receiving the customer data in its plain text and uncompressed form as part of a database transaction in a live production environment of the host organization;
• compressing the customer data using dictionary based compression and a compression dictionary, wherein the compression dictionary used to compress the customer data maps strings to symbols;
• storing the compressed customer data in a database of the host organization, wherein storing the compressed customer data in the database of the host organization comprises storing the symbols and not the strings;
• retrieving the compressed customer data from the database of the host organization, wherein retrieving the compressed customer data from the database of the host organization comprises retrieving the compressed customer data from the database responsive to a masked transaction specifying a database query for the customer data, wherein the host organization returns the masked customer data to fulfill the masked transaction without exposing the customer data in its plain text and uncompressed form;
• and
• de-compressing the compressed customer data via a masked compression dictionary, wherein the masked compression dictionary de-compresses the customer data into masked customer data by mapping the symbols to masked strings different than the strings used by the compression dictionary to create the symbols.

A system comprising:

• a processor and a memory to execute instructions at the system;
• a request interface to receive customer data at the system, wherein the request interface is to receive the customer data in its plain text and uncompressed form as part of a database transaction in a live production environment of the host organization;
• a data compressor to compress the customer data using dictionary based compression and a compression dictionary, wherein the compression dictionary used to compress the customer data maps strings to symbols;
• a database to store the compressed customer data, wherein the database is to store the symbols and not the strings;
• a test query interface to retrieve the compressed customer data from the database, wherein the test query interface is to retrieve the compressed customer data from the database responsive to a masked transaction specifying a database query for the customer data, wherein the test query interface is to return the masked customer data to fulfill the masked transaction without exposing the customer data in its plain text and uncompressed form;
• and
• a data de-compressor to de-compress the compressed customer data via a masked compression dictionary, wherein the masked compression dictionary de-compresses the customer data into masked customer data by mapping the symbols to masked strings different than the strings used by the compression dictionary to create the symbols.