Tell me more ×
Cryptography Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for software developers, mathematicians and others interested in cryptography. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 0 down vote favorite

Much is being written all over the web that Tokenization is an alternative to encryption here , here and here

Is there some literature in crypto community on the same ? on formal treatment of tokenization or comparison or relevance to security ?

share|improve this question
"Tokenization" as highlighted by those links looks an awful lot like hashing/fingerprinting, which has been used for decades and is not an alternative but a complement to encryption. – Thomas Nov 4 '12 at 11:14
I didn't knew the word in crypto context before (only for compiler building, with another meaning), but what I read from your links, this is about replacing sensitive data (in databases, queries, ...) by a meaningless (random) token, while the original data is stored somewhere else (where is could be easier to secure). This is not a cryptographic process (other than you should use a cryptographic secure random number generator to create the tokens) at all. This question is thus off-topic on this site, and I'm closing it as such. – Paŭlo Ebermann♦ Nov 4 '12 at 12:19
@PaŭloEbermann, this is actually a good question, as tokenization relates directly to cryptographic protocols, especially in the context of credit card security (which most of these articles are discussing.) Can you reopen it so we can go over those points? – John Deters Nov 5 '12 at 15:03
@JohnDeters: Sorry, I'm not yet convinced. I think this might work on our sister site [Security Stack Exchange](security.stackexchange.com/), though it should be worded better, and thus I'm not directly migrating it. But I don't think the question "should one encrypt or use some replacement" is a crypto one. – Paŭlo Ebermann♦ Nov 5 '12 at 20:33
@PaŭloEbermann: I see where you're coming from, but I'm not sure "Should one encrypt or use some replacement?" is a fair summary of the question. Would you be willing to consider reopening if the title was more in line with the questions in the body? (E.g., "Has tokenization received any formal analysis in cryptographic literature?") – Seth Nov 5 '12 at 21:40

closed as off topic by Paŭlo Ebermann♦ Nov 4 '12 at 12:19

Questions on Cryptography Stack Exchange are expected to relate to cryptography within the scope defined in the FAQ. Consider editing the question or leaving comments for improvement if you believe the question can be reworded to fit within the scope. Read more about closed questions here.

Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.