For many businesses, data masking is vital. In addition to creating anonymized, yet realistic, datasets that can be used in testing, development, or employee training processes, it also protects an organization’s sensitive data from cyberattacks. Below, we’re going to look at the benefits of data masking tools and reveal the best options available in 2025.
Benefits of Data Masking Tools?
The benefits of using a data masking tool include:
- Protects against data breaches, data leakage, and various types of cyberattacks.
- Helps businesses remain compliant with the relevant data privacy regulations – falling foul of these can result in a hefty fine.
- Allows for better partner and internal data sharing.
- Creates anonymized datasets that have a wide range of applications.
- Promotes loyalty and boosts brand reputation by demonstrating a business’s commitment to protecting its clients’ data.
- It’s considered a best practice for security frameworks and architectures.
When considering data masking tools and software, it’s vital to consider your business’s needs, including future requirements. For example, is the solution scalable, so it can grow with your business, have an easy-to-use, intuitive interface, and leverage AI for powerful data protection?
How Does Data Masking Work?
How exactly do data masking tools work? They create an anonymized, but structurally similar, version of a business’s data. This provides a functional substitute for testing, development, etc., while protecting the real data. Such tools do this by obfuscating the original data values while maintaining the data and format types. If unauthorized users should get hold of this data, it’s therefore useless to them, while the original data can be retrieved or unmasked as required by authorized users. Data masking is frequently applied to safeguard, for example, personal identifiable information, payment card data, personal health information, and intellectual property.
Top 8 Data Masking Tools
1. K2View Data Masking – Best for Enterprise-Level Organizations
K2View Enterprise Data Masking is a standalone, high-performance solution that masks both structured and unstructured data at scale. Powered by AI, it supports a range of masking methods and integrates with the technology and tools your business is already using. Its ability to connect with relational databases, NoSQL sources, legacy systems, XML documents, and more, helps ensure regulatory compliance.
2. Protegrity – Best for Tokenization
This solution offers a dynamic data masking tool to bolster a business’s defences and shore up data privacy. For organizations seeking even more robust data masking techniques, tokenization is available. This substitutes sensitive data with a non-sensitive “token” which has no exploitable or intrinsic value, making the information effectively useless to hackers. Protegrity’s solutions are designed to maximize data value, minimize data risk, and be future-proof.
3. Oracle Data Masking and Subsetting – Best for Using Minimal Network Resources
Oracle’s Data Masking and Subsetting solution aims to accelerate compliance, improve security, and reduce business costs by creating a sanitized copy of production data for development, testing, and more, and discarding unnecessary data. It has a light footprint when it comes to the network and system resources it uses, and is generally best for medium-sized and large organizations.
4. Nymiz – Best for Tailor-Made Solutions
Businesses looking for bespoke, tailor-made data masking solutions may wish to consider Nymiz, which can create tools designed specifically for an organization’s needs for data redaction and anonymization. It can be integrated with any client platform and application and offers a subscription-based service for smaller businesses and startups. Nymiz also provides consultancy services to better help their clients identify the best solution for their unique requirements.
5. IRI FieldShield – Best for Advanced Features
IRI Fieldshield is a highly robust data masking tool that incorporates a range of advanced features designed to protect data through its entire lifecycle. As it’s mapped, users can mask data by applying functions in federation, mitigation, IRI Voracity ETL, subsetting, replication, and more, while deterministic masking can be applied to preserve data integrity. The tool helps organizations comply with data privacy laws, with compliance verifiable via job audit logs, human-and machine-readable search reports, and reidentification risk scores.
6. DATPROF – Best for Helping Get Products to Market Faster
This solution is designed to help businesses get their products to market more speedily by providing high-quality, masked test data. DATPROF automates the test data provisioning process, generates synthetic test data, and provides test data subsets that businesses need, when they need them. The software benefits from a user-friendly interface, a web portal for easy provisioning, and CSV and XML file support, and a free trial is available so you can check if it suits your business’s requirements before you commit any funds.
7. Delphix – Best for Data Virtualization
Delphix’s end-to-end data masking solution applies encoded rules to promote compliance with PCI, HIPAA, and more, and is so easy to use that no training is required. The tool can be used in conjunction with Delphix’s data virtualization platform to enhance the transport and security of data. Data can be migrated effortlessly across a variety of sites and platforms, and deployed on-premises or in the cloud.
8. Microsoft SQL Server Data Masking – Best for Free Trial
This easy-to-use tool allows users to choose the level of masking for complex data without changing the stored information. Created to simplify the coding and design of security in an application and prohibit unauthorized users from accessing sensitive data, a substantial free trial period is on offer, so you can fully test out its capabilities. As well as partial and full masking functions, the Microsoft SQL Server Data Masking tool facilitates random masking for numeric data.
Data Masking is Easier than Ever in 2025
Data masking tools are essential for many businesses to secure their sensitive data and operations and provide easy access to anonymized datasets for tasks such as training, testing, and developing. Take a look at our list of best-in-class data masking solutions above to choose the very best options for your needs, and enjoy the peace of mind that comes with knowing your business is compliant with the relevant data privacy regulations.
I’m a DevOps/SRE/DevSecOps/Cloud Expert passionate about sharing knowledge and experiences. I have worked at Cotocus. I share tech blog at DevOps School, travel stories at Holiday Landmark, stock market tips at Stocks Mantra, health and fitness guidance at My Medic Plus, product reviews at TrueReviewNow , and SEO strategies at Wizbrand.
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