Optim to convert critical information such as Social Security number (TRANS SSN), credit card number (TRANS CCN), and e-mail IDs (TRANS EML). There are several other functions available in Optim in the data privacy area that provide various masking functions. For example, some of the functions include:
LOOKUP, a function that uses a lookup table to determine the destination column value
HASH_LOOKUP, a function that determines the destination column value from a lookup table according to a value derived from a source column
RAND_LOOKUP, a random lookup function that selects a value for the destination column from a lookup table based on a random number as the subscript in the lookup table
TRANS SSN flags and their descriptions
Flags Description
n Generates a random area number and an appropriate group number and serial number.
r Generates a random area number corresponding to the state of the source SSN and an appropriate group number and serial number.
v Validates the source group number to ensure the SSN has used it.
- Generates an SSN with dashes separating the fields (for example, 123-45-6789). Requires a character-type destination column at least 11 characters long.
The TRANS CCN function is used to generate valid and unique credit card numbers (CCNs). A CCN usually consists of a six-digit issuer identifier followed by a variable-length account number and a single-check digit as the final number. By default, TRANS CCN algorithmically generates a consistently altered CCN, but it can also generate a random value for CCN.
The execution steps followed in this section (used to mask credit card numbers) are similar to the steps followed during the execution of the SSN scenarios. All three scenarios described in this section differ from each other with respect to the source file, control file, destination file, and flags used in TRANS CCN function.
TRANS CCN flags and their descriptions
Flags Description
n Generates a random CCN, not based on a source value, that includes a valid issuer
identifier associated with American Express, MasterCard, VISA, or Discover.
r Generates a random CCN that includes the first four digits of the source issuer identifier.
6 Generates a random CCN that includes the first six digits of the source issuer identifier.
TRANS EML
The TRANS EML function is used to generate an e-mail address. An e-mail address has two parts—the user name and the domain name, separated by the at sign (@).
The TRANS EML function generates e-mail addresses based on either the destination data or a literal concatenated with a sequential number. The domain name can be formed using either the source data or randomly chosen from a long list of e-mail service providers. E-mail addresses can also be converted to upper or lower case.
The execution steps followed in this section (where the scenarios will work on e-mail accounts) are similar to the steps followed during the execution of SSN scenarios. Hence, usage of only one is given here, and the rest can be executed in the same way with only the change of the flag values.
TRANS EML flags and their descriptions
Flags Description
n Ignores the source value and generates an e-mail address with a random domain name from a list of large e-mail service providers.
. Separates the name1col and name2col values with a period (.).
- Separates the name1col and name2col values with an underscore (_).
i Uses only the first character of the name1col value.
l Converts the e-mail address to lower case.
u Converts the e-mail address to upper case.
Note: Some of the articles are grab from various Websites / Blogs.
