Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP) Practice Exam

What is the process of replacing sensitive data with unique identification symbols that retain all the essential information about the data without compromising its security?

1. Authentication

2. Masking

3. Obfuscation

4. Tokenization

The correct answer is: Tokenization

The process in question is known as tokenization. Tokenization involves substituting sensitive data elements with non-sensitive equivalents, referred to as tokens, which can be used in place of the original data but do not carry any exploitable value. This allows organizations to retain the essential information required for business operations while significantly minimizing the risk of data breaches, as the tokens cannot be used to retrieve the original sensitive data without access to the secure tokenization system. Tokenization is especially useful in environments that handle sensitive information, such as payment information in financial transactions, as it helps to ensure compliance with regulations like PCI DSS. In these contexts, even if tokens are intercepted, they cannot be reverse-engineered to access the original data without the tokenization key, thus added security is achieved. In contrast, other processes like masking, obfuscation, and authentication serve different purposes. Masking involves modifying the sensitive data so that it is not recognizable, but this often means the original data is no longer available in its native form for processing. Obfuscation deals mainly with intentionally making the data unclear or difficult to understand, while authentication focuses on verifying the identity of a user or system rather than protecting sensitive data directly. Therefore, tokenization stands out as the process designed specifically