tDataMasking properties for Apache Spark Structured Streaming

Schema and Edit Schema

• A schema is a row description. It defines the number of fields (columns) to be processed and passed on to the next component. When you create a Spark Job, avoid the reserved word line when naming the fields.

  Click Sync columns to retrieve the schema from the previous component connected in the Job.

  Click Edit schema to make changes to the schema. If the current schema is of the Repository type, three options are available:

  • View schema: choose this option to view the schema only.

  • Change to built-in property: choose this option to change the schema to Built-in for local changes.

  • Update repository connection: choose this option to change the schema stored in the repository and decide whether to propagate the changes to all the Jobs upon completion.

    If you just want to propagate the changes to the current Job, you can select No upon completion and choose this schema metadata again in the Repository Content window.

  Information noteRemember: When you select the Dynamic data type, remember that:

  • The data masking function applies to each data of the dynamic column. For example, if the columns are name, address, and email, the data masking function applies to each of these three data as separate data, not as a whole.
  • If some data types from the dynamic column are incompatible with some data masking functions, the Job fails. For example, the Email Masking function is incompatible with the Integer data type.
  • Some data masking functions validate the input data. When at least one data from a record cannot be masked, the record goes to the invalid output flow.
  The output schema of this component contains read-only columns:

  • TWEAK: Is generated when the Use tweaks with FF1 Encryption check box is selected. This column contains the tweak necessary to decrypt the data.
  • ORIGINAL_MARK: Identifies by true or false if the record is an original record or a substitute record respectively.

• Built-In: You create and store the schema locally for this component only.

• Repository: You have already created the schema and stored it in the Repository. You can reuse it in various projects and Job designs.

Modifications

Define in the table what fields to change and how to change them:

Input Column: Select the column from the input flow that contains the data to be masked.

The supported data types are: Date, Double, Float, Integer, Long and String.

These modifications are based on the function you select in the Function column.

Function: Select the function that will hide or obfuscate the original data with substitutes. For example, you can replace digits or letters with the substitute of your choice, replace values with synonyms from an index file or nullify values.

The functions you can select from the Function list depend on the data type of the input column.

For example, if the column type is Long, you can use the Numeric variance function. If the column type is String, the Numeric variance function will not be available. Also, the Function list for a Date column is date-specific, it allows you to decide the type of modification you want to do on date values.

Method: Select the Basic method or one FF1 algorithm (Format-Preserving Encryption (FPE)), FF1 with AES or FF1 with SHA-2:

The Basic method is the default algorithm.

The FF1 with AES method is based on the Advanced Encryption Standard in CBC mode. The FF1 with SHA-2 method depends on the secure hash function HMAC-256.

The FF1 with AES and FF1 with SHA-2 methods require a password to be specified in the Password or 256-bit key for FF1 methods field of the Advanced settings to generate unique masked values.

The Alphabet list is only available for functions that use Format-Preserving Encryption algorithms.

When using the Character handling functions, such as Replace all, Replace characters between two positions, Replace all digits with FPE methods, you must select an alphabet.

Characters that belong to the selected alphabets are masked with characters from the same character type within the selected alphabet.

When selecting the Best guess alphabet, masked values contain characters from all alphabets represented in the input values. Best guess is the default alphabet.

Any unrecognized character is copied to the output as is.

Extra Parameter: This field is used by some of the functions, it will be disabled when not applicable. When applicable, enter a number or a letter to decide the behavior of the function you have selected.

Keep format: this function is only used on Strings. Select this check box to keep the input format when using the Generate account number and keep original country, Generate credit card number and keep original bank, Bank Account Masking, Credit Card Masking, Phone Masking and SSN Masking functions or categories. That is to say, if there are spaces, dots ('.'), hyphens ('-') or slashes ('/') in the input, those characters are kept in the output. If you select this check box when using Phone Masking functions, the characters that are not numbers from the input are copied to the output as is.

This component is used as an intermediate step.

This component, along with the Spark Structured Streaming component Palette it belongs to, appears only when you are creating a Spark Structured Streaming Job.

You need to use the Structured Streaming Configuration tab in the Run view to define the connection to a Spark cluster for the whole Job.

This connection is effective on a per-Job basis.