What type of data obfuscation involves hiding sensitive information?

Data masking is a technique specifically designed to hide sensitive information by replacing it with altered values or characters while maintaining the overall format. This allows organizations to use and share data without exposing confidential details, making it particularly useful for testing, development, and analytical purposes where the actual sensitive data is not necessary. By masking data, organizations can protect personally identifiable information (PII) and comply with regulations regarding data privacy.

Unlike data compression, which reduces the size of data without altering its content, data encryption transforms data into a secure format that can only be accessed by authorized individuals using a decryption key. Data restoration refers to the process of retrieving data from a backup or previous state, which does not involve altering the visibility of sensitive information. Therefore, data masking stands out as the most relevant method for hiding sensitive information.