Exactly a year ago, I had written on the subject of Data Security in these columns. Exactly a year ago, someone had hijacked his employer’s servers containing sensitive data; all hell broke loose, because the employer was also a government agency. Exactly a year ago, we introduced the Solix Data Privacy Pack for Oracle e-Business Suite.

Much of the vulnerability I wrote then was from Insider Threats and from Test & Development Copies – as far as database applications were concerned. Of course, there are vulnerabilities in production databases, in the application themselves, in the storage and in tapes. However keeping raw data in test & development databases is just too risky, particularly in the case of application maintenance outsourcing.

So after a year, where do we stand today on this subject?

The awareness of the problem is much stronger particularly because it is now mandated through a few regulations like PCI, HIPAA, UK Data Protection Act. It has a strong established discipline on its own right under “Application and Data Security”. It’s called “Data Masking;” and has other names like Data Privacy, Data Obfuscation, Data Sanitization….. (just as Data Archiving is sometimes also referred as Data Relocation). Over the last one year, it has got itself a strong band (although still limited in numbers) of technical gurus, advocates and customers – all the ingredients that can make a technology an application killer.

However, that’s not enough. Data breach is still happening. Sensitive data resides not just in the corporate that may have implemented different data security technologies. They also reside with their suppliers and other business partners – in their production databases, test systems and elsewhere. We therefore need a wider penetration of data security technologies.

In parallel, we have another computing trend emerging – Cloud. The principles of Cloud are too compelling to ignore. But what it lacks are few of the critical infrastructure stacks to make the Cloud safe – within the network, the applications and the data. And until the Cloud is safe, there is going to be skepticism and resistance in its adoption.

Now what if we marry Data Masking technologies with “Private Cloud,” such that we bring the simplicity of Cloud to Data Masking and bring the safety of data to a Private Cloud? After all, the raison d’etre of private cloud is security.

Solix EDMS Data Masking is now Cloud Computing ready. We expect this technology convergence to usher in a holistic, consistent and integrated masking across the supply chain through private clouds. And it will benefit in large scale adoption of both Data Security technologies and Cloud Computing – just as many collaborative technologies saw larger adoptions with emergence of Intranets and Extranets and Internet itself has evolved to Web 2.0 and beyond!