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PostgreSQL Anonymizer

Anonymization & Data Masking for PostgreSQL

postgresql_anonymizer is an extension to mask or replace personally identifiable information or commercially sensitive data from a PostgreSQL database.

The project has a declarative approach of anonymization. This means you can declare the masking rules using the PostgreSQL Data Definition Language (DDL) and specify your anonymization strategy inside the table definition itself.

Once the maskings rules are defined, you can access the anonymized data in 3 different ways :

Anonymous Dumps : Simply export the masked data into an SQL file
Static Masking : Remove the PII according to the rules
Dynamic Masking : Hide PII only for the masked users

In addition, various Masking Functions are available : randomization, faking, partial scrambling, shuffling, noise or even your own custom function!

Beyond masking, it is also possible to use a fourth approach called Generalization which is perfect for statistics and data analytics.

Finally, the extension offers a panel of detection functions that will try to guess which columns need to be anonymized.

Example

=# SELECT * FROM people;
 id | firstname | lastname |   phone
----+-----------+----------+------------
 T1 | Sarah     | Conor    | 0609110911

Step 1 : Activate the dynamic masking engine

=# CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS anon CASCADE;
=# SELECT anon.start_dynamic_masking();

Step 2 : Declare a masked user

=# CREATE ROLE skynet LOGIN;
=# SECURITY LABEL FOR anon ON ROLE skynet IS 'MASKED';

Step 3 : Declare the masking rules

=# SECURITY LABEL FOR anon ON COLUMN people.lastname
-# IS 'MASKED WITH FUNCTION anon.fake_last_name()';

=# SECURITY LABEL FOR anon ON COLUMN people.phone
-# IS 'MASKED WITH FUNCTION anon.partial(phone,2,$$******$$,2)';

Step 4 : Connect with the masked user

=# \connect - skynet
=> SELECT * FROM people;
 id | firstname | lastname  |   phone
----+-----------+-----------+------------
 T1 | Sarah     | Stranahan | 06******11

Success Stories

With PostgreSQL Anonymizer we integrate, from the design of the database, the principle that outside production the data must be anonymized. Thus we can reinforce the GDPR rules, without affecting the quality of the tests during version upgrades for example.

— Thierry Aimé, Office of Architecture and Standards in the French Public Finances Directorate General (DGFiP)

Thanks to PostgreSQL Anonymizer we were able to define complex masking rules in order to implement full pseudonymization of our databases without losing functionality. Testing on realistic data while guaranteeing the confidentiality of patient data is a key point to improve the robustness of our functionalities and the quality of our customer service.

— Julien Biaggi, Product Owner at bioMérieux

I just discovered your postgresql_anonymizer extension and used it at my company for anonymizing our user for local development. Nice work!

— Max Metcalfe

If this extension is useful to you, please let us know !

Support

We need your feedback and ideas ! Let us know what you think of this tool, how it fits your needs and what features are missing.

You can either open an issue or send a message at contact@dalibo.com.