What technique substitutes a unique token for the real data, making the actual data inaccessible while preserving referential integrity?

• A. Data Masking
• B. Tokenization
• C. Data Scrubbing
• D. Unencrypted Data (Cleartext/Plaintext)

Answer: (B)

Tokenization replaces actual data with a unique token that stands in for it, while the real value is kept in a secure vault. This keeps data inaccessible to those who only see the token, yet preserves the ability to relate records because the same real value maps to the same token across datasets.

This preserves referential integrity because relationships between data are maintained through the token itself. For example, the same customer name or account number will always map to the same token, so you can join or link records without ever exposing the sensitive data. Authorized systems can reverse-map the token to the real data when needed.

Data masking substitutes values with other data that looks real but isn’t the actual value and can break consistent linking. Data scrubbing removes data, which breaks references. Unencrypted data is not protected at all, so it fails the requirement of keeping the real data inaccessible.