Skip to main content

Display Masked Data

This guide will show you how to customize your data so you can securely display it while remaining compliant. We will leverage the concept of a mask to transform the underlying data prior to display.

Key concepts in this guide:

Getting Started​

To get started, you will need a Basis Theory account.

Next you will need a Management Application in order to provision the components in this guide.

Click here to create a Management Application or login to your Basis Theory account and create a new application from the Full Management Access template.

Save the API Key from the created Management Application as it will be used to provision the next step.

Create a Private Application​

We need to create a Private Application which will be used to tokenize some data and retrieve the masked data. We will apply an Acccess Policy to the application of mask on the root container /. Access policies enable you to partition and apply granular permissions to your data.

curl "https://api.basistheory.com/applications" \
  -H "BT-API-KEY: <API_KEY>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -X "POST" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Display Masked Data App",
    "type": "private",
    "rules": [{
      "description": "Create and read masked data",
      "priority": 1,
      "container": "/",
      "transform": "mask",
      "permissions": [
        "token:create",
        "token:read"
      ]
    }]
  }'
Be sure to replace <API_KEY> with the Private API Key you created in the Getting Started step.
Save the API Key from the created Private Application as it will be used in this guide to create the token and retrieve the masked data.

Create a Token​

Next, we want to collect some user data in a token. This will securely store this information with Basis Theory, which will be retrieved later. To do this, we will call the Tokenize endpoint directly.

We will leverage Expressions to define the token mask. These are Liquid template expressions to define the format of the data when retrieving the information.

Run the following in your terminal to create a token containing user information:

curl "https://api.basistheory.com/tokenize" \
-X "POST" \
-H "BT-API-KEY: <API_KEY>" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
  "type": "token",
  "data": {
    "first_name": "John",
    "last_name": "Doe",
    "social_security_number": "111-22-3333",
    "email_address": "johndoe@basistheory.com"
  },
  "mask": {
    "first_name": "{{ data.first_name }}",
    "last_name": "{{ data.last_name | slice: 0 }}.",
    "social_security_number": "{{ data.social_security_number | reveal_last: 4 }}",
    "email_address": "{{ data.email_address | split: '\''@'\'' | last }}"
  }
}'
Be sure to replace <API_KEY> with the Private API Key you created in the Getting Started step.

You should see a JSON response similar to:

{
  "id": "90ead06a-e6d8-4061-9096-4486c5d7820a",
  "type": "token",
  "tenant_id": "76d4905e-ef89-46ea-9134-92ad5cd2e973",
  "data": {
    "first_name": "John",
    "last_name": "D.",
    "social_security_number": "XXX-XX-3333",
    "email_address": "basistheory.com"
  },
  "created_by": "5f84b724-e531-4416-a39d-3e8912643999",
  "created_at": "2022-12-20T20:40:32.1996963+00:00",
  "fingerprint": "3CWpgMyXH3NdPxDzd47ch5uk9S6ApFTqt4cyqgwNyzYF",
  "fingerprint_expression": "{{ data | stringify }}",
  "mask": {
    "first_name": "{{ data.first_name }}",
    "last_name": "{{ data.last_name | slice: 0 }}.",
    "social_security_number": "{{ data.social_security_number | reveal_last: 4 }}",
    "email_address": "{{ data.email_address | split: '@' | last }}"
  },
  "containers": [
    "/general/high/"
  ]
}
It is best practice to securely collect your data from a web form or API to avoid security and compliance risks associated with directly handling the sensitive data.

Retrieve the Token​

Now we want to retrieve the token to view the masked information.

If you run the following in your terminal:

curl "https://api.basistheory.com/tokens/90ead06a-e6d8-4061-9096-4486c5d7820a" \
  -H "BT-API-KEY: <API_KEY>"

You should see a JSON response similar to:

{
  "id": "90ead06a-e6d8-4061-9096-4486c5d7820a",
  "type": "token",
  "tenant_id": "76d4905e-ef89-46ea-9134-92ad5cd2e973",
  "data": {
    "first_name": "John",
    "last_name": "D.",
    "social_security_number": "XXX-XX-3333",
    "email_address": "basistheory.com"
  },
  "created_by": "5f84b724-e531-4416-a39d-3e8912643999",
  "created_at": "2022-12-20T20:40:32.1996963+00:00",
  "fingerprint": "3CWpgMyXH3NdPxDzd47ch5uk9S6ApFTqt4cyqgwNyzYF",
  "fingerprint_expression": "{{ data | stringify }}",
  "mask": {
    "first_name": "{{ data.first_name }}",
    "last_name": "{{ data.last_name | slice: 0 }}.",
    "social_security_number": "{{ data.social_security_number | reveal_last: 4 }}",
    "email_address": "{{ data.email_address | split: '@' | last }}"
  },
  "containers": [
    "/general/high/"
  ]
}

Conclusion​

Due to the Acccess Policy we created on our Private Application, the mask transform will be applied to all tokens in the root container /. The result will have the token's mask applied to the data.

Custom masks can be applied to any token type to help displaying sensitive data to users of your systems without exposing your applications and systems to increased compliance and security requirements.

Learn More​