What technique replaces original data with characters like asterisks to ensure confidentiality?

The technique that replaces original data with characters like asterisks to ensure confidentiality is known as masking. This method is commonly used in situations where sensitive information needs to be concealed from view while still allowing for certain operations to occur on the data. For instance, in applications like testing or development, developers may need access to data but must not see real sensitive information such as credit card numbers or Social Security numbers. By masking the original data, organizations can protect sensitive information while enabling necessary functionality.

In contrast, encryption transforms data in such a way that it can only be read or accessed with a specific key, making it reversible upon decryption. Tokenization replaces sensitive data with non-sensitive equivalents, or tokens, which can be mapped back to the original data but are not the same as the original information. Obfuscation involves making data unclear or harder to understand without adequately ensuring that it cannot be easily reversed back to its original state. Masking, however, specifically focuses on replacing data with non-sensitive characters like asterisks, which directly aligns with the requirement to maintain confidentiality through simple visual concealment.