Generation of updatable anonymized data records for testing and developing purposes
A mechanism is described for the computer-aided generation of anonymized data records for developing and testing application programs that are intended for use in a productive network ( 12 ). A method according to the invention comprises the provision of at least one productive database ( 14 ) containing data records that contain productive data elements to be anonymized, provision of at least one non-productive database ( 22 ) containing data records that likewise contain data elements, the generation of an assignment between data records of the non-productive database ( 22 ) and data records of the productive database ( 14 ), and also the generation of an anonymized data record by replacing the data elements to be anonymized in a data record from the productive database ( 14 ) with the data elements of an assigned data record from the non-productive database ( 22 ). The assignment is maintained during a later generation of new anonymized data records and/or during an updating of already generated anonymized data records in order to be able to maintain the test data and in order to make simpler error analysis possible.
1. A method for the computer-aided generation of anonymized data records for developing and testing application programs that are intended for use in a productive environment, comprising the steps of:
providing at least one productive database containing data records that contain productive data elements to be anonymized;
providing at least one non-productive database containing data records that contain data elements;
generating a mutual assignment between data records of the nonproductive database and data records of the productive database, based on a respective record number as an unambiguous identifier of an individual record in the respective database wherein precisely one non-productive data record is assigned to each of the productive data records to be anonymized, and wherein the assignment is based on an assignment table that has been generated random-based, wherein the respective record number is stored in the assignment table and not in the anonymized data records; and
generating anonymized data records by replacing the data elements to be anonymized in data records from the productive database with data elements of the respectively assigned data records from the nonproductive database, the assignment being maintained during at least one of a generation of new anonymized data records and an updating of the already generated anonymized data records.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the assignment permits a retrospective determination of the data element or data record from the productive database assigned to an anonymized data element or data record.
3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the assignment takes place within the productive environment.
4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the productive environment comprises a productive computer network containing a plurality of network components and in that access to the assignment is granted only to network components having a suitable authorization in the productive environment.
5. The method according to claim 3 , wherein a non-productive environment is provided and no access is granted to the assignment from the non-productive environment.
6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the anonymized data records are updated at regular time intervals or under user control.
7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the data elements contained in the non-productive database have a meaning that can be comprehended by a user.
8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the data elements contained in the productive database and the data elements contained in the nonproductive database contain at least one of name data and address data.
9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the data elements in the nonproductive database were extracted from a publicly accessible database or file.
10. A computer program product comprising program code means for performing the method according to claim 1 when the computer program product is executed on one or more computers.
11. The computer program product according to claim 10 , stored on a computer readable data medium.
12. A computer system for generating anonymized data records for developing and testing application programs that are intended for use in a productive environment, comprising:
at least one productive database containing data records that contain productive data elements to be anonymized;
at least one non-productive database containing data records that contain data elements;
a computer for generating anonymized data records, a mutual assignment existing between data records of the non-productive database and data records of the productive database based on a respective number as an unambiguous identifier of an individual record in the respective database, wherein precisely one nonproductive data record is assigned to each of the productive data records to be anonymized, and wherein the assignment is based on an assignment table that has been generated random-based,
wherein the respective record number is stored in the assignment table and not in the anonymized data records, and
wherein the assignment is maintained during at least one of a generation of new anonymized data records and an updating of the already generated anonymized data records, and the computer generating an anonymized data record by replacing the data elements to be anonymized in a data record from the productive database by the data elements of an assigned data record from the non-productive database.
13. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the data elements of the anonymized data records replaced during the generation of the anonymized data records have a meaning that is comprehendible by a user.