Encryption

[susanalopezaria]

Hi all,

I have a doubt related to encrytion. In my company they want to encrypt some sensitive information columns, we have different databases but we created pipelines and all the information is in BigQuery, so some sensitive information columns will be encrypted in BigQuery.

In my report, we use some sensitive columns in measures or relationships, my question is what are the good practices in Power Bi? I mean, should I still use this encrypt information in the measures and everything like it was or what? it is the first time so I am a bit lost. Also if for use some of them in the filters, can I decrypt it?

[Vanchy_Liao · Accepted solution]

Hi @susanalopezaria ,

i think there is no DAX can decrypt the data and you can see the documents below to get more understanding how it works, especially Vertipaq.
DAX overview - DAX | Microsoft Learn

Solved: Understanding the Vertipaq Engine - Microsoft Fabric Community

Vertipaq is how Power BI works. it needs strings, numbers...etc, not encrypt data.

[v-hashadapu]

Hi @susanalopezaria , Hope you're doing okay! May we know if it worked for you, or are you still experiencing difficulties? Let us know — your feedback can really help others in the same situation.

[v-hashadapu]

Hi @susanalopezaria , hope you are doing great. May we know if your issue is solved or if you are still experiencing difficulties. Please share the details as it will help the community, especially others with similar issues.

[v-hashadapu · Accepted solution]

Hi @susanalopezaria , Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Community Forum.

You can encrypt sensitive data in BigQuery, but in Power BI those columns won’t be very usable. Power BI can load them, but it can’t decrypt them, so they don’t work properly for relationships, filters or calculations, they’re just treated as opaque values. If you need those columns for joins or filtering, they must be made usable before they reach Power BI. If decryption isn’t allowed, then avoid using them directly and instead use things like hashed keys or masked values.

So, for your filter question, no, you can’t decrypt inside Power BI, which means encrypted columns won’t work properly in slicers unless they’re already transformed upstream.

[Vanchy_Liao · Accepted solution]

Hi @susanalopezaria ,

i think there is no DAX can decrypt the data and you can see the documents below to get more understanding how it works, especially Vertipaq.
DAX overview - DAX | Microsoft Learn

Solved: Understanding the Vertipaq Engine - Microsoft Fabric Community

Vertipaq is how Power BI works. it needs strings, numbers...etc, not encrypt data.