Decrypt Columns
Infoveave Data Automation — Security
Data encrypted in your sharing pipeline needs to be recovered for authorized internal review. Supply the same password used to encrypt — original values restored on every row.
Two-way encryption in data pipelines creates a secure channel for sharing sensitive data with partner systems while retaining the ability to recover original values when needed for auditing, investigation, or downstream processing. After a partner returns analysis results keyed on encrypted identifiers, an internal authorized workflow must link those results back to the original records by decrypting the identifiers. Similarly, archived datasets encrypted for storage compliance may need to be decrypted for authorized reporting or legal discovery. Decrypt Columns completes the encryption-decryption lifecycle — it accepts the same columns encrypted by the Infoveave Encrypt Column two-way step and recovers original values using the correct password, all within the pipeline without requiring a separate decryption application or cryptography library call.
What Decrypt Columns does
Decrypt column values that were encrypted using the two-way symmetric Encrypt Column step in Infoveave. Recover original names, identifiers, account numbers, or any encrypted data by supplying the correct decryption password — without cryptography libraries, key management code, or database decryption functions.
When to use Decrypt Columns
- A partner or analytics vendor has returned analysis results keyed on encrypted identifiers that were shared using Encrypt Column with two-way encryption, and you need to link those results back to original records by decrypting the identifier columns
- You are running an authorized internal audit or investigation that requires access to original PII or sensitive values that are stored in encrypted form in the production analytics dataset
- You have data archived in an encrypted format for compliance storage and need to restore original values for regulatory reporting or legal discovery under proper authorization
- You are building a full encryption-decryption pipeline cycle for data in transit — data is encrypted for external sharing and decrypted on receipt in the internal authorized processing environment
When to avoid it
- The column was encrypted using one-way hashing (SHA-256, SHA-1) — one-way hashes cannot be reversed. Decrypt Columns only recovers values encrypted with the two-way symmetric option in the Encrypt Column step
- You do not have the correct decryption password — the transformation will fail or produce garbage output if the wrong password is supplied; there is no mechanism to recover values without the correct password
- You are decrypting data for sharing with an external system — decrypted PII or sensitive data should only be accessed in authorized internal secure environments, not exposed to downstream shared or untrusted systems
Where it fits in your Infoveave automation
Decrypt Columns is one step inside a multi-step Infoveave workflow. Chain it with other activities — no code, no manual hand-offs.
Build this workflow visually in Infoveave Data Automation — drag, connect, and schedule with no infrastructure setup.
How teams use Decrypt Columns
Real scenarios where this transformation saves hours of manual work.
Recover Encrypted Customer Identifiers After Partner Analytics Return
A retailer's loyalty analytics team shared a dataset with a marketing analytics partner where CustomerID and Email were encrypted using two-way encryption before sharing. The partner returned a segmentation result file keyed on encrypted CustomerID. The team's internal pipeline runs Decrypt Columns on the returned partner file to recover original CustomerID values, enabling the segmentation results to be merged back to the loyalty platform's customer records for campaign targeting.
Decrypt Archived Employee Records for Compliance Audit
A manufacturing firm archives employee performance records in encrypted form. During a compliance audit, the HR team needs access to original employee names and IDs from the archived dataset. An authorized internal pipeline runs Decrypt Columns using the stored secure password to recover EmployeeName and EmployeeID from the archived encrypted columns, enabling the auditors to review original records without the encryption being circumvented in the production environment.
Restore Account Numbers After Fraud Analysis Partner Returns Results
A bank encrypted AccountNumber before sharing transaction data with a fraud analytics partner. The partner returned a list of flagged transactions keyed on encrypted account numbers. The bank's fraud investigation team runs Decrypt Columns to recover original account numbers from the flagged list, enabling case managers to identify and contact affected account holders for immediate action.
See Decrypt Columns in action
Input data (left) is transformed using the configuration below. The output table (right) is ready for dashboards or downstream steps.
EncryptedName, EncryptedEmail(secure decryption password matching encryption step)Input Data
| CustomerID | EncryptedName | EncryptedEmail | TransactionAmount |
|---|---|---|---|
| C001 | U2FsdGVkX1+abc123xyz456def789ghi012jkl345mno678pqr901stu234vwx567yz | U2FsdGVkX1+def456abc789ghi012jkl345mno678pqr901stu234vwx567yz890abc | 5200.00 |
| C002 | U2FsdGVkX1+ghi789def012jkl345mno678pqr901stu234vwx567yz890abc123def | U2FsdGVkX1+jkl012ghi345mno678pqr901stu234vwx567yz890abc123def456ghi | 3100.50 |
| C003 | U2FsdGVkX1+mno345jkl678pqr901stu234vwx567yz890abc123def456ghi789jkl | U2FsdGVkX1+pqr678mno901stu234vwx567yz890abc123def456ghi789jkl012mno | 8750.25 |
| C004 | U2FsdGVkX1+stu901pqr234vwx567yz890abc123def456ghi789jkl012mno345pqr | U2FsdGVkX1+vwx234stu567yz890abc123def456ghi789jkl012mno345pqr678stu | 1480.00 |
| C005 | U2FsdGVkX1+yz567vwx890abc123def456ghi789jkl012mno345pqr678stu901vwx | U2FsdGVkX1+abc890yz123def456ghi789jkl012mno345pqr678stu901vwx234yz | 6330.75 |
Output Data
| CustomerID | EncryptedName | EncryptedEmail | TransactionAmount |
|---|---|---|---|
| C001 | Alice Johnson | [email protected] | 5200.00 |
| C002 | Bob Smith | [email protected] | 3100.50 |
| C003 | Carol Davis | [email protected] | 8750.25 |
| C004 | Dave Wilson | [email protected] | 1480.00 |
| C005 | Eve Thompson | [email protected] | 6330.75 |
Configuration
Key fields to configure in the Infoveave workflow builder. Full reference available in the documentation.
Column Names
Select the columns that contain two-way encrypted values produced by the Infoveave Encrypt Column step. Multiple columns can be decrypted simultaneously in one step when they were encrypted with the same password. All selected columns will have their encrypted values replaced with the recovered original values.
Password
Enter the exact password that was used when encrypting the column values with the Encrypt Column two-way step. The decryption will fail or produce garbled output if the password does not match the one used during encryption. Store decryption passwords in a secure credential store — do not hardcode them in pipeline configuration documentation.
Frequently asked questions
Everything you need to know about Decrypt Columns in Infoveave.
Also in Security — and what runs before & after
Transformations in the same family as Decrypt Columns, often chained together in the same Infoveave workflow.
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