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IRI DarkShield Now Masks Sensitive Data in SQL Files — Closing a Critical Gap in Data Security

IRI DarkShield - Now a Data Masking Tool for SQL Dump Files, Too

IRI DarkShield - Now a Data Masking Tool for SQL Dump Files, Too

IRI DarkShield File Type Selection Dialog in IRI Workbench

IRI DarkShield File Type Selection Dialog in IRI Workbench

DarkShield-Masked Data in SQL File

DarkShield-Masked Data in SQL File

Adds discovery and anonymization of PII and more so companies can also protect their DB build/dump files and better comply with data privacy laws

Masking only the live database is no longer enough. Now we can bring the same standards of discovery and masking to the source files that many DBA, DevOps and GRC teams rely on.”
— Lisa Mangino, IRI
MELBOURNE, FL, UNITED STATES, October 7, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Today, Innovative Routines International (IRI) announces an important new capability in its DarkShield data masking platform: native classification, discovery and masking for PII or other sensitive values in the .sql files that create and manage data in relational databases. SQL file support in DarkShield means that companies and government agencies can find and protect the sensitive data that populates, or may be exported from, their databases.


Why .SQL Files Matter — and Why They Must Be Protected

Organizations frequently exchange, archive, and transport data in the form of SQL export or dump files: schema + data scripts, migration snapshots, or staging transfers. These files often contain column definitions, insert statements, and literal values—among them Personally Identifiable Information (PII), Protected Health Information (PHI), financial data, credentials, or other sensitive information.

While most data‐masking and discovery tools focus on live relational databases or structured data sources, unprotected .sql files can be a serious blind spot: when shared via version control, backups, staging environments, or third‐party transfers, they expose the same sensitive payloads that live databases hold.

Recent news and research underscore the urgency of this. For example:

Data breach incidents frequently occur when raw dumps or backups are inadvertently exposed or misconfigured in cloud storage or file shares.

The rapid proliferation of generative AI and data pipelines means that SQL dump sources are increasingly reused, repurposed, and concatenated—magnifying the risk of propagation of sensitive values.

Compliance mandates such as GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS, and recent data protection laws require that sensitive data remain protected at rest and in transit—not only in live database instances, but also in archival or in-motion forms.

Given this landscape, the ability to locate and mask sensitive content directly within .sql files becomes a critical control in the data-centric security stack.


What the New Capability Delivers

With this enhancement, IRI DarkShield now offers:

Content scanning and discovery — Deep parsing of .sql scripts (DDL, DML, literal values), using data classification to identify fields such as SSNs, credit card numbers, medical identifiers, credentials, and more.

Automated masking and redaction — Once sensitive values are detected, the tool can mask the .sql file—replacing, obfuscating or otherwise anonymizing protected values while preserving syntax, referential structure, and data types.

Consistent masking across environments — Masking can be deterministic (same input maps to same masked output), ensuring that foreign keys, joins, or cross-script references remain consistent.

Seamless integration with existing DarkShield workloads — This new source support complements DarkShield’s prior capabilities for structured, semi-structured, and unstructured sources on premise or in the cloud, including relational and NoSQL databases, raw text, EDI and log files, PDF and MS Office documents, image files, and more.


Strategic Benefits & Use Cases

Pre-ingestion protection: Mask sensitive data before it ever enters staging, ETL pipelines, or loading tools.

Safe code review / version control: Commit sanitized SQL scripts into repositories without risking leaks of real PII or secrets.

Regulatory compliance: Demonstrate that masked data never leaves your controlled perimeter—even in file form—with auditable reports.

Secure test and dev data sourcing: Generate sanitized .sql snapshots that developers or testers can run locally without exposure to live production data.

Third-party sharing: Safely exchange schema/data payloads with vendors, partners, or analytics providers without exposing sensitive values.


“With the new .sql masking support, DarkShield can close a critical gap in data security: protecting dump files and scripts before they ever hit a live database,” observed IRI David Friedland. “This helps organizations enforce a zero-trust posture even for movement of static datasets.”

“In a world where data is shuffled between environments, versions, and tools hundreds of times a day, masking only the live database is no longer enough,” added Lisa Mangino, Director IRI Software Sales. “Now we can bring the same standards of discovery and masking to the source files that many DBA, DevOps and GRC teams rely on.”


Availability & Next Steps

The .sql file support is included in the latest DarkShield V6 build in Q4 2025. Existing DarkShield customers with an earlier version and covered by maintenance can request an update. More information on the feature is documented in the article:
https://www.iri.com/blog/data-protection/masking-pii-in-sql-files/


About IRI

Innovative Routines International (IRI) is a pioneer in data management, transformation, and security software. Its DarkShield platform enables enterprises to classify, search, mask, and report on sensitive data across structured, semi-structured, and unstructured sources. IRI continues to expand data protection across complex, evolving data silos and pipelines.

Alyssa Ardhya
IRI, The CoSort Company
+1 321-777-8889
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