What is the optimal point in the data lifecycle to tokenize sensitive data? 

What is the optimal point in the data lifecycle to tokenize sensitive data? 

tokenize sensitive data

Perform tokenization early, ideally at the data generation or data ingestion stage. Tokenizing in the generating application provides the highest security and performance. However, this can be difficult to govern compliance as the number of applications increases. Tokenization performed in the ETL/ELT pipeline during streaming or batch ingestion performs well and is easy to control for compliance. It can be implemented without having to update the data-generating applications.

Another option is to tokenize at the time of data store writes with User Defined Functions supported by the data store. This is a transparent approach and easy to govern; however, it may impact performance for low-latency transactional databases.