encrypted ssn

Question

My scenario is , in our dB we store ssn as encrypted values. we would like to search the SSN when user enters the value of ssn.

it takes lot of time to decrypt and match the ssn in million records. Please provide some tips and tricks to handle this situation.

Thx,

Gancy

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Gancy

Answer 1

If you need to do an exact search, you would simply first encrypt the value and then search for any record with the same encrypted value. In short, in short of decrypting millions of fields, you are encrypting the input and searching based on that.

I don't think there is any option for partial search, You can have requirements like search by last 4 digits, in which case, either store the last 4 digits in a separate colun [clear or encrypted, as your security guideline recommends]