Peterborough, NH – October 1, 2014: ARCAD Software, leading vendor in software solutions for Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) on IBM Power systems running IBM i, today announced a new solution in their range addressing the anonymization of sensitive data. ARCAD-Anonymizer is available as a standalone tool with the latest V10.03 ARCAD release, and principally targets the test phase of the software development lifecycle.
“Our launch of ARCAD-Anonymizer answers a growing need in our customer base for confidentiality of test data. Companies everywhere handle vast amounts of sensitive data as part of their business; financial, personal, contact, and medical information. Data leaks have become more and more common. With government-driven data privacy regulations like the U.S. Patriot Act, HIPAA and the European Data Protection Directive, companies now run a heavy financial risk from fines and loss of business following a data breach. We already know from Gartner that 80% of incidents come from insiders – so the software test phase, and in particular the re-use of production data for testing is a natural target”, states Philippe Magne, CEO and Chairman of ARCAD Software.
ARCAD-Anonymizer is an effective solution to the protection of privacy of test data, hiding the personal dimension of data or information. It works by de-identifying sensitive data while preserving its format and type. Its anonymization algorithms are irreversible, and data readability is preserved. ARCAD-Anonymizer can therefore be used when preparing test data for use by testers and developers.
“Clearly the most effective way to ensure the accuracy of any test campaign is to reuse production data. This ensures realistic conditions in which to test. Yet a simple replication of data exposes the enterprise to the greatest risk of an insider data breach”, adds Magne. “ARCAD-Anonymizer is a high performance and multi-platform solution designed to protect sensitive test data while retaining its usability”.
A variety of anonymization techniques are delivered with the solution, including an extensible library of algorithms for scrambling and masking.
ARCAD-Anonymizer is entirely platform and database independent. “In addition to a strong emphasis on performance, we have designed a solution that is equally viable on any database as well on classical physical files”, states Magne. “ARCAD-Anonymizer consists of a multi-platform, full Java server, and a Web or rich client for defining parameters, simulations, and statistics. It has a command-line API and plugs easily into third-party products such as ETL and data replication tools”.
One of the unique strengths of ARCAD-Anonymizer is its ability to discover data to be anonymized. For this it utilizes the data analysis technology that already powers the automation behind several of the ARCAD solutions, including the test data extraction product, ARCAD-Extract. ARCAD-Anonymizer can be used either standalone, or in conjunction with ARCAD-Extract for extracting test datasets directly from production.
ARCAD-Anonymizer complies with regulatory constraints for data transfer. “By adding ARCAD-Anonymizer into our product range, we are easing audit compliance for our customers, and reducing the risk of fines and lost business due to a data leak”, concludes Magne.
The solution is a natural extension in ARCAD’s strategic direction towards DevOps and an emphasis on continuous integration and test, where testing is recognized as an increasingly frequent and critical phase in the development lifecycle.
About ARCAD Software
ARCAD Software is leading vendor in software solutions for Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) for IBM Power Systems running IBM i operating software. An advanced technology and business partner with IBM Rational, the company operates internationally with offices in Europe, USA and Asia supporting 1000+ installations worldwide. Since its inception in 1992, ARCAD Software has built on its methodology know-how and specialist expertise on IBM i to develop a multi-platform ALM suite, integrated with Rational software and positioned as the new standard on IBM i. A steadfast champion for modernization on the platform, ARCAD is twice winner of the enterprise modernization award at IBM Innovate 2012 and 2013, and the flagship offering – the ARCAD Pack for Rational – is now distributed and supported by IBM worldwide.