Noise Generator

Masks values in numeric columns. Adds or multiplies the original value by random noise.

The additive noise generator draws noise from an interval around 0 scaled to the magnitude of original value. For example, the default scale is 10% of the underlying value. The larger the value, the larger the amount of noise that is added.

The multiplicative noise generator multiplies the original value by a random scaling factor that falls within a specified range.

Characteristics

Consistency	Yes, can be made self-consistent or consistent with another column.
Linking	No, cannot be linked.
Differential privacy	No
Data-free	No
Allowed for primary keys	No
Allowed for unique columns	No
Uses format-preserving encryption (FPE)	No
Privacy ranking	3 if not consistent 4 if consistent
Generator ID (for the API)	NoiseGenerator

How to configure

You can use either the additive noise generator or the multiplicative noise generator, then set the other generator settings.

Using the additive noise generator

To use the additive noise generator:

1. From the dropdown list, choose Additive.

2. In the Relative noise scale field, type the percentage of the underlying value to scale the noise to. The default value is 10.

Tonic samples the additive noise from a range between [-{scale/100} * |value|, {scale/ 100} * |value|), where scale is the noise scale, and value is the original data value.

The lower value of the range is inclusive, and the upper value of the range is exclusive.

For example, for the default noise scale of 10, and a data value of 20, the additive noise range would be [-.1 * 20, .1 * 20). In other words, between -2 (inclusive) and 2 (exclusive).

Using the multiplicative noise generator

To use the multiplicative noise generator:

1. From the dropdown list, choose Multiplicative.

2. In the Min field, type the minimum value for the scaling factor. The minimum value is inclusive. The default value is 0.5.

3. In the Max field, type the maximum value for the scaling factor. The maximum value is exclusive. The default value is 5.

Tonic scales the original value from a range between [min, max), where min is the minimum scaling factor, and max is the maximum scaling factor.

For example, for the default values of 0.5 and 5, Tonic multiplies the original data value by a value from between 0.5 (inclusive) and 5 (exclusive).

Other generator configuration

To configure the generator consistency and data encryption:

1. Toggle the Consistency setting to indicate whether to make the column consistent. By default, the consistency is disabled.

2. If you enable consistency, then by default the generator is self-consistent. To make the generator consistent with another column, from the Consistent to dropdown list, select the column. If the generator is self-consistent, then a given value in the source database is masked in exactly the same way to produce the value in the destination database. If the generator is consistent with another column, then for a given value in that other column, the column that is assigned the Noise generator is always masked in exactly the same way in the destination database. For example, a field containing a salary value is assigned the Noise Generator and is consistent with the username field. For each instance of User1, the Noise Generator masks the salary value in exactly the same way.

3. If Structural data encryption is enabled, then to use it for this column, toggle Use data encryption process to the on position.