By Aditi Jain
Director of Operations, NakodaX ·
NakodaX blog/Data Protection·2 min read
How do you share a customer table with a vendor safely?
Give the vendor their own file, not your whole customer table. NakodaX Data Protection builds a file for each recipient with only the columns and rows you chose, and a license you can end. When the contract ends, new files can no longer be opened by that vendor.
The problem was never that you shared the data. It was having no way to end access.
On this page
A marketing team wants better attribution. The analytics vendor asks for a customer export: names, emails, phone numbers and past orders.
The team sends it, because the vendor cannot work without it. Months later the contract ends, and your customer table sits on infrastructure you never controlled.
Nothing went wrong in the sharing. The problem is what happens after.
Why is this a risk if nothing was breached?
Once the file reaches the vendor, your control over it ends. You have a contract and an agreement on how the data can be used. You do not have the data.
Stripping out names before sending often breaks the job, because attribution and fraud checks need real identifiers. Leave them in and the vendor holds your customers.
What does NakodaX change?
Data Protection builds a separate file for each recipient. It holds only the columns and rows you chose. A column the vendor should not have is left out of their file, or sealed, which replaces each value with an encrypted token. The vendor can still open the file in their own tools and work with the other columns.
If the vendor does need real values for one column, you can allow that for that vendor only, with its own license.
How do you end the relationship?
Revoke the vendor's license. NakodaX stops releasing keys for files under it, so files they have not yet opened can no longer be opened. Each recipient has their own license, so ending one never touches another.
This is a locked door, not a shredder. Nothing is deleted, and values the vendor already opened stay with them.
What do you get to answer later?
When a board or regulator asks who can read your customer data, you can show the records: what was shared, with whom, and whether the license is still active. NakodaX also stores no customer data itself. The files move from your systems to theirs.
The takeaway
Give each partner a file built for the job, keep the license in your hands and end the relationship cleanly.
Related product
NakodaX Data Protection
Filter rows, protect columns, deliver data to each recipient and enforce access and retention without storing business data on NakodaX. Works alongside a data clean room.
See how it worksCommon questions
Can I give a vendor only some columns of a customer table?
Yes. Each recipient's file holds only the columns and rows you chose for them.
What does sealing a column mean?
Each value is replaced with an encrypted token. The vendor can work with the other columns and cannot read the sealed ones without the license.
Does revoking delete the data the vendor holds?
No. It stops new key requests. Data they had already opened stays with them.
