Monitoring

The Monitor protection method is generally used for auditing.

As an organization, if you plan to monitor and assess users that are trying to access the data without protection, choose the Monitor protection method. This element does not restrict any data security operation for any user, but instead audits attempts to add, access, or change data by users. The audit logs generated on the protectors are forwarded to Insight.

With the Monitor method, sensitive data is accessible by users. The usage of this data is monitored through audit logs that are generated on the protectors and then delivered to Insight.

The monitoring method is controlled by the security officer from the centrally administered ESA Appliance.

The Monitoring protection method works in a similar way as the No Encryption method. However, it gives full access to all users by default and does not require roles to be added to the policy. Access can be changed by adding a role and setting role permissions.

Table: Monitor Algorithm Properties

PropertiesValues
NameMonitor
Operation ModeN/A
Length Preservation with padding formula for non-length preserving algorithmsYes
Specifics of algorithmDoes not protect data at rest by changing it. Used for monitoring and auditing.

The following table shows examples of the way in which a value will be protected with the Monitor algorithm.

Table: Output Values for Monitor Algorithm

Protection MethodInput ValueOutput ValueComments
MonitorProtegrityProtegrityThe value is stored in the clear. An audit log is generated.

Monitoring for Protectors

The Input type / Character set for all protectors vary across DBs. The Output type / Character set is the same as the input type. For example; if the input type is an integer, then the output type is also an integer.

Application Protector

Table: Input Data Types Supported by Application Protectors

Protection MethodAP JavaAP Python
MonitorSHORT

INT

LONG

FLOAT

DOUBLE

STRING

CHAR[]

BYTE[]
STRING

BYTES

FLOAT

INT

If the input and output types of the API are BYTE [], the customer application should convert the input to a byte array. Then, call the API and convert the output from the byte array.

For more information about Application protectors, refer to Application Protector.

Big Data Protector

Table: Input Data Types Supported by Big Data Protectors

Protection Method*1MapReduceHivePigHBaseImpalaSparkSpark SQLTrino
MonitorBYTE[]

INT

LONG
CHAR

STRING

FLOAT

DOUBLE

INT

BIGINT

HIVEDECIMAL
CHARARRAY

INT
BYTE[]STRING

INT

FLOAT

DOUBLE
BYTE[]

STRING

FLOAT

DOUBLE

SHORT

INT

LONG
STRING

FLOAT

DOUBLE

SHORT

INT

LONG

BIGDECIMAL*2
VARCHAR

SMALLINT

INT

BIGINT

DATE

TIMESTAMP

DOUBLE

DECIMAL

*1 - The customer application should convert the input to and output from byte array.

*2 - If decimal format data is protected by the Decimal UDFs using the Monitor data element, then the protected data is trimmed to the scale of 18 digits.

For more information about Big Data protectors, refer to Big Data Protector.

Data Warehouse Protector

Table: Input Data Types Supported for Data Warehouse Protectors

Protection MethodTeradata
MonitorVARCHAR

CHAR

INTEGER

FLOAT

DECIMAL

DATE

SMALLINT

Database Protectors

Oracle Database Protector

The supported input data types for the Oracle Database Protector are listed below.

Protection MethodSupported Input Data Types
MonitorVARCHAR2
MonitorCHAR
MonitorNUMBER
MonitorREAL
MonitorFLOAT
MonitorDATE
MonitorRAW
MonitorBLOB
MonitorCLOB

Last modified : January 20, 2026