Introduction
As part of an application lifecycle, we are periodically required to refresh our non-production (dev/test) environments with production data. This helps us test applications with the right data and ensures we do not leak any obvious defects. It also enables us to test for performance of our application, as we will have the same quantity of data as in production. Further, testing on real data is bound to inspire confidence on an application release.
But copying live data increases the risks and the exposure of confidential information. A non-production database is likely to be accessed by developers and business analysts who may not have the same access in a live environment. They might only be interested in testing a feature but should not be exposed to the confidential information in the live system itself. To reduce such risks, data needs to be anonymized. i.e., personally identifiable/confidential information is removed or replaced with dummy values.