Format-Preserving Encryption
Lock Down Your Data Without Losing Control
ALTR’s Format-Preserving Encryption ensures secure and effortless data sharing, keeps you compliant, and delivers powerful protection without the headaches—so your business always runs smoothly.
Data Security Shouldn’t Break Usability
Protecting sensitive information without disrupting business operations is a challenge. Traditional encryption methods can cripple your efficiency, leaving you with altered data formats that wreak havoc on compatibility and collaboration.
Format Breakdowns
Performance Slowdowns
Compliance Hurdles
Operational Bottlenecks
Powerful Protection, Zero Compromise
Effortless Data Sharing
Securely share sensitive data across systems without altering its format, keeping workflows seamless and uninterrupted.
Built-In Compliance
Easily meet data protection standards like HIPAA and PCI DSS without disrupting current processes or data structure.
System Compatibility
Keep encrypted data fully compatible with existing systems, avoiding costly upgrades and system replacements.
Enhanced Data Security
Protect sensitive data both at rest and in transit, adding robust defense layers against potential breaches.
Streamlined Operations
Maintain data in its original format, cutting down on extra resources and effort typically needed to manage encryption.
Smooth User Experience
Keep data accessible and intuitive to use, ensuring security doesn’t interfere with productivity or daily workflows.
Watch the FPE MasterLabs Series
Part I: Why FPE, Why Now
Understand what FPE is, where it fits, and why it’s becoming essential for modern data security.
Part II: FPE in Action
See how to encrypt, operate on, and manage data securely with FPE in real-world environments.
Part III: Real World Impact
Unpack how FPE impacts your tools, teams, and compliance strategy—without disrupting performance.
Key Features
Native Integration with Snowflake
Encrypt and decrypt data directly in Snowflake, cutting out costly on-prem appliances and licensing fees.
Faster Query Response Times
Bypass traditional calls for quicker response times and streamlined operations.
Shift Left Security
Safeguard data at the ETL stage with FF3-1 Format-Preserving Encryption.
Easy Policy Automation
Enable non-technical users to set access policies with a simple point-and-click interface.
Real-Time Compliance Monitoring
Track data access instantly with custom alerts for full visibility and compliance.
Automated Key Management
Envelope encryption with automatic decryption and effortless key rotation for continuous protection.
No Matter the Industry, Your Data Is Protected
For industries handling vast amounts of sensitive data security can’t get in the way of getting things done. ALTR’s Format-Preserving Encryption allows you to protect what matters most while keeping operations running smoothly.
Finance
Secures credit card numbers, account details, and transaction histories, maintaining format for fraud detection, compliance audits, and real-time processing.
Healthcare
Protects patient identifiers and medical records, enabling seamless sharing between healthcare providers while complying with HIPAA and other privacy laws.
Retail
Encrypts customer payment details and loyalty program data, ensuring secure transactions without slowing checkout or loyalty integrations.
Government
Protects Social Security numbers, driver’s license data, and other PII, keeping format intact for database accuracy and secure inter-agency data sharing.
Just Ask Our Customers
“ALTR’s Format Preserving Encryption offering running natively in our own Snowflake environment proved to be far more effective, scalable, and affordable than the legacy solutions we had considered. Further, with ALTR’s cloud-native, SaaS architecture, we could extend FPE upstream into our data pipeline, expanding our compliance footprint to include a staging area prior to workloads landing in Snowflake.” – Customer Platforms Delivery Manager | Oil & Gas
Resources You Might Like
Frequently Asked Questions
What is format-preserving encryption (FPE)?
Format-preserving encryption (FPE) is a cryptographic method that encrypts sensitive data while keeping the output in the same format as the original. For example, a 16-digit credit card number encrypted with FPE produces another 16-digit string — not a long block of random characters like traditional encryption would. This means encrypted data remains compatible with existing systems, applications, and data structures without requiring schema changes or application modifications.
What is the difference between FPE and standard encryption?
Standard encryption (such as AES-CBC) produces ciphertext that is a different length and format from the original data, which often breaks downstream applications, validation rules, and storage formats. Format-preserving encryption generates ciphertext that matches the size, format, and character set of the original plaintext. This makes FPE particularly valuable for encrypting data that must remain usable in legacy systems or pipelines where changing field lengths or formats is not feasible.
What's the difference between tokenization and format-preserving encryption?
Both FPE and tokenization protect sensitive data while preserving its usability, but they work differently. Tokenization replaces sensitive values with surrogate tokens that have no meaningful relationship to the original data — the mapping between token and original value is stored and managed separately. FPE is a true cryptographic operation: the ciphertext is mathematically derived from the original value using a key and algorithm, and can be reversed with the correct key. FPE is often better suited for high-throughput environments where managing token mappings at scale adds complexity, while tokenization is a strong choice when you want to remove any derivable relationship between the protected value and its substitute entirely.
What algorithm does ALTR use for format-preserving encryption?
ALTR’s FPE is built on the FF3-1 algorithm, which is a NIST-approved standard for format-preserving encryption. FF3-1 is widely recognized as the industry-leading algorithm for this use case, balancing strong cryptographic security with practical performance characteristics for enterprise data environments. ALTR implements FF3-1 natively within Snowflake, leveraging Snowflake’s built-in FPE API.
Can data encrypted with FPE still be used for analytics?
Yes. Because FPE generates ciphertext that mirrors the size, format, and character set of the original data, encrypted fields remain compatible with existing systems, applications, and data structures — no schema changes or application modifications are required. Analytical pipelines and reporting tools can continue operating on FPE-protected data without disruption.
Does ALTR's FPE work natively inside Snowflake?
Yes. ALTR’s FPE runs as a native application within Snowflake, which means encryption and decryption operations happen locally within the Snowflake environment — not through an external appliance or proxy. This eliminates the latency, cost, and infrastructure complexity of traditional on-premises encryption systems. All operations stay within Snowflake’s security boundary, and ALTR’s FPE Native App is available on the Snowflake Marketplace for rapid deployment
Eliminate Risk, Ensure Compliance.
Contact our Data Security Experts to secure your data, stay compliant, and tackle threats with confidence.