PII masking a differentiator for Aerospike's NoSQL database
By adding native protection of personally identifiable information, the vendor is simplifying system administration while simultaneously pushing the NoSQL market.
Aerospike on Monday launched native Dynamic Data Masking, a new feature that customers can easily apply to protect personally identifiable information.
While it's imperative that enterprises protect PII when running data workloads, many databases don't have native features that protect PII. Instead, they require system administrators to create masked views, aggregation pipelines and other configurations that require ongoing, complex oversight to hide individual indicators.
Popular databases such as Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle Database do come with native dynamic data masking. However, the feature is less common with NoSQL databases such as Aerospike, Amazon Dynamo DB, Couchbase, MongoDB and Redis.
Now, Aerospike, a NoSQL database vendor based in Mountain View, Calif., is aiming to stand apart from its database competitors by simplifying the protection of PII in a move Holger Mueller, an analyst at Constellation Research, called significant for the vendor's customers.
"It makes things easier -- in case you need to mask -- which is a clumsy and sensitive process you have to do manually otherwise," he said.
Aerospike's native Dynamic Data Masking is available as part of the vendor's latest Aerospike Database 8 update, which also includes support for YAML-based server configuration and improved data recovery capabilities, among other new features. System administrators can deploy native Dynamic Data Masking by applying a rule to mask data for all users and machines other than those granted specific privileges to view and work with PII.
It makes things easier -- in case you need to mask -- which is a clumsy and sensitive process you have to do manually otherwise.
Holger MuellerAnalyst, Constellation Research
Once the rule is applied, PII protection is automatically enforced at the database layer so that developers and engineers can build analytics and AI tools without having to configure PII protection at the application level.
Meanwhile, the impetus for developing native Dynamic Data Masking came from customer feedback, according to Srini Srinivasan, Aerospike's co-founder and chief technology officer.
"Aerospike has many fintech and banking customers who have always cared deeply about protecting PII, and for those customers, it's now even easier for them with native support," he said. "But now, almost all applications have a PII or payment component. Everything is digital. Dynamic data masking applies in far more places, and it needs to be easier to deploy and manage centrally."
Beyond its value for users, native Dynamic Data Masking could help Aerospike stand apart from other NoSQL database providers, according to Mueller.
Among NoSQL databases, Mueller noted that only Microsoft's Azure Cosmos DB offers native dynamic data masking capabilities. Those capabilities, introduced in November 2025, are in preview rather than generally available.
"It is a new feature [among NoSQL databases]," he said, noting that otherwise "it is a manual coding effort, so it's much better to have this as a product feature."
Looking ahead
With the latest Aerospike Database 8 update now available, the vendor's product development plans are focused on adding capabilities that enable customers to develop AI applications, according to Srinivasan.
"There's a lot of work and features coming in Aerospike in this and other areas to make it even faster to create a proof of concept, see the value, and go from start to scale on Aerospike," he said, noting that more than half of Aerospike workloads are now related to AI and machine learning.
In addition, database performance, scale, stability and cost optimization are also points of emphasis.
Aerospike's focus on AI is appropriate, according to Mueller.
While Aerospike does provide vector search and storage capabilities, with enterprises continuing to invest heavily in developing AI tools, he suggested that the vendor add more capabilities to its database that support AI development. In addition, he noted that Aerospike could provide AI capabilities of its own to make its database easier and faster to use.
"It is AI time, so [Aerospike could add] out of the box guardrails, [improved] vector support and use AI to run the database administration tasks," Mueller said.
Eric Avidon is a senior news writer for Informa TechTarget and a journalist with more than three decades of experience. He covers analytics and data management.
