Data protection in test environments is a crucial aspect for companies, especially when handling sensitive information about customers, users, employees, and more. Ensuring the highest standards of digital security is essential when creating test environments for new software. Fortunately, achieving this is now possible.
Regardless of a company’s size, it must handle the data it possesses with the utmost responsibility. This is vital because the data belongs to real people, and if it falls into the wrong hands, it could pose a significant risk to them, as well as have potential repercussions for the company itself.
In Europe, this responsibility is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which focuses on protecting the personal data and privacy of individuals. Before the GDPR, Spain had the Personal Data Protection Act, which aimed to ensure the proper defense, handling, and management of personal data by companies and entities alike.
Both the GDPR and the previous Personal Data Protection Act focus on safeguarding individuals’ information. However, since 2018, the GDPR has been the prevailing regulation in Spain, offering a more robust and rigorous framework.
Improving data protection in test environments is crucial, especially when test data is needed to assess software performance. The risk arises when real data from the production environment—which is secure—is transferred to the test environment, where it becomes more vulnerable. Additionally, without explicit consent from the data owner, the company is not legally authorized to use this data.
Corporate data protection should always maintain the highest level of security. However, the risk of data breaches is ever-present, not only from malicious attacks but also from accidental leaks caused by employees.
As previously mentioned, the GDPR is responsible for protecting personal data across Europe. Beyond regulation, it also serves as a guide for companies on how to handle customer information properly.
The GDPR recommends anonymizing or pseudonymizing personal data before testing, as this is an effective solution to prevent data theft or accidental breaches. The anonymization process, known as data dissociation, ensures that if test environments are compromised, the data cannot be linked back to the real individuals it represents. This means that sensitive information (such as addresses, emails, age, gender, etc.) cannot be associated with the individuals to whom it belongs.
When seeking to protect corporate data, a tool that provides the necessary security and assurance is essential. Icaria TDM is the perfect platform for this purpose, as it allows for the identification and protection of sensitive data.
Icaria TDM enables the handling of dissociated data during software testing and data analysis, ensuring sensitive data is properly identified and protected within the database.
This is incredibly useful—and reassuring for companies—when testing new software. Although data is required for testing, it will not be the actual data of individuals who have entrusted their information to the company. Icaria TDM’s core principle is to use "data that looks real but isn’t."
This approach allows companies to comply with GDPR regulations and offers an intelligent dissociation process that is ideal for test, simulation, or software development environments.
The result is a database with consistent and useful information for testing purposes, without exposing the real sensitive data held by the company.
Need help with your enterprise software testing strategy? Talk to our team and start improving the quality of your test data management software.
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