Tip 16: How to mask customer data to ensure privacy.

Tip 16: How to mask customer data to ensure privacy.




Hi folks, 


As users, we often hesitate to share our contact numbers or email addresses, as we don't want to be bombarded by newsletters, promotional messages, or sales calls. In this tip, we'll talk about how you can mask data entered in Zoho Creator applications with just a few clicks!

What is data masking?

Data masking, in simple terms, is a process used by businesses to hide or replace real data with random characters. Names, addresses, phone numbers, and credit card details are examples of data that require protection to prevent inappropriate visibility.

A quick example:

Imagine that you've built an application that contains all of your customer purchase data, including their name, customer ID, phone number, gender, purchase history, coupons used, amount spent, and more. You need to share this data with your marketing consultant to gain better insights about customer preferences. However, you don't want your consultant to view your customers' contact numbers or email addresses. Data masking is the solution!
 
In Zoho Creator, it's easy to encrypt or mask the data entered in a field.

All you need to do is enable the Encrypt data property for the required fields:

  1. Open the form builder.
  2. Select the required field from Field Properties on the right.
  3. Navigate to the Data Security section.
  4. Check the  Encrypt data box.  

  5. If this field has been referenced in your apps, you'll be prompted with a list of these references, which may include the field being used:
    • In another form as part of a Lookup field.
    • To group or sort records in reports.
    • As a reference in any workflows.


  6. You'll only be allowed to enable data encryption once you've resolved these references. If this field is not referenced, you'll be shown the message below: 
  7. Click I understand, Proceed. A popup will appear that will display the progress of data encryption.
  8. Click  Okay once the encryption process has completed.  



To learn more about the data encryption property, click here
 
We hope this post was useful to you. If you have any questions, feel free to post them in the comments below, and we'll happily address them for you!




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