About data masking (ADPP add-on)

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Add-on

Advanced Data Privacy and Protection (ADPP)







Verified AI summary ◀▼


The data masking feature in the Advanced Data Privacy and Protection
add-on helps protect sensitive information by hiding personally identifiable
information (PII) from agents in custom and light agent roles. It limits data
exposure, supports GDPR compliance, and allows you to control which user
data is visible. Note that data masking doesn't alter database information
and has some limitations, such as restricted agent actions.



The data masking feature, part of the Advanced Data Privacy and Protection add-on, allows you to
hide personally identifiable information (PII) from agents in custom and light agent
roles.
Data masking helps reduce unnecessary exposure to sensitive information by limiting the
data that agents can view. For example, a company collaborating with high-profile
clients may restrict access so that agents only see user data when it's required for
their role. This practice also supports compliance with regulations such as the General
Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which emphasizes data minimization and controlled
access.
This article includes the following topics:
Understanding data masking
Data masking limitations
Understanding the differences between data redaction and data masking


Related article:

Turning on and configuring data
masking



Understanding data masking

Data masking allows admins to create and assign agents to custom and light agent
roles to determine which data is masked from agents.
When a role is configured with data masking, agents see only the PII required for
their responsibilities, reducing the risk of unauthorized access. Masking is applied
at the presentation layer only, so PII in the database remains unchanged. Agents in
roles without masking continue to see all PII. When a role with masking settings is
saved, Zendesk automatically updates permissions to hide restricted PII. Agents
assigned to the masked role will see a lock icon next to any PII fields they are not
permitted to view.
Data masking supports masking the following system fields in the Support and Guide
areas of Zendesk:
Name
Email
Phone


The system fields listed above will be masked in the following areas of Zendesk
Support:
End-user profile
End-user fields in the context of a ticket (requester, CCs, followers)
Email notifications
Ticket views
Support search
Triggers and automations (business rules)
Side conversations


For Knowledge, PII is masked from agents with permission to manage Guide. This applies to:
User segments
User content
Spam
Community moderation views


Note that end-user data that has been made public will be visible to agents, even
with data masking in place. For example, if moderation is turned on and an end user
posts a public comment, their name won't be masked because it can be seen in the
help center.



Data masking limitations

Data masking may restrict certain agent actions that require access to PII. Features
such as managing end-user profiles will be unavailable to agents in roles with
masking, and some tasks, such as managing suspended tickets, may be limited. Core
workflows for solving tickets remain unaffected.
General limitations

Any functionality outside the scope described in Understanding data masking, including QA, WFM, Talk,
and Explore, is not supported with masking.
Zendesk recommends testing data masking in a sandbox environment.

Support limitations

Managing end-user profiles, merging tickets, and masking of PII in ticket
comments are not yet supported.
Managing organizations, managing suspended tickets, placeholders, legacy CCs,
print ticket, and View original email functionality is unavailable for masked
agents.

AI-generated ticket summaries may
expose PII if turned on.




Understanding the differences between data redaction and data masking

Data redaction and data masking are both techniques used to protect sensitive
information, but they serve different purposes.
Data redaction allows admins or agents in custom roles with permission to permanently
remove sensitive information from tickets, ensuring that deleted data can't be
retrieved or viewed by any agents. Agents can redact ticket content manually, or with the Advanced
Data Privacy and Protection add-on, admins can create triggers to automatically redact ticket data.
Data masking offers an alternative approach to protecting sensitive information. It
allows certain roles to have end-user names, email addresses, and phone numbers
obscured based on role settings. This means that while the original data remains
intact, it's hidden from view for agents without permission. This capability allows
customers to maintain data integrity while safeguarding user privacy.
While data redaction permanently removes sensitive information, data masking provides
a way to obscure it based on user permissions.