CipherTrust Connectors Product Lifecycle
Overview
Application Data Protection Connectors in this document refers to a set of CipherTrust connectors that provide tools for protecting application data-at-rest using SDKs, REST API calls, and Batch Data Transformation, along with key management for Oracle TDE (Transparent Database Encryption) and Microsoft SQL EKM (Extensible Key Management), and Database Protection. For the complete list of connectors, refer to Appendix.
These tools are continuously enhanced with new features, bug fixes, and security updates. To support this, Thales periodically releases patches, as well as minor and major updates.
On average, one to two feature releases are delivered each year, introducing significant enhancements or new capabilities. In addition, minor updates may be issued throughout the year to provide hotfixes, bug resolutions, and security improvements.
The details of the product lifecycle are outlined below.
Application Data Protection Connector Release Types
| Release | Major | Minor | Patch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Versioning | 1.0.0 | 1.1.0 | 1.1.1 |
| Cadence | 3+ Years | 1 Year | As needed |
| Contents | Major change in functionality | New features, fixes | Bug fixes, Security updates |
Application Data Connector Support Phase Definitions
| Support Phase | Definition | Timeframe |
|---|---|---|
| Active Support | Period during which Thales Customer Support assists customers with issues. A maintenance agreement makes the customer eligible for patches. | Begins with this version's GA; Ends with the release of the next Major or Minor release |
| Continued Support | Thales Customer Support can be engaged in troubleshooting and workarounds. Thales engineering will fix bugs and provide security updates. Customers may be required to upgrade to the latest version on-need basis. However, no additional investment will be made by the development and engineering departments. | Begins after Active Support; Ends after 1 Year. |
| Extended Support | Thales Customer Support can engage in troubleshooting issues. Support provided on an as-needed basis. Thales engineering will not provide bug fixes or security updates. | Begins after Continued Support; Ends after 6 months. |
Application Data Protection Connectors Life Cycle
Considering that Application Data Protection Connectors include a variety of tools, we’ll illustrate the product life cycle using CipherTrust Vaultless Tokenization as a reference. Following is a diagram of the CipherTrust Vaultless Tokenization Life cycle used as a reference. The version numbers are just for elaboration and are not valid version numbers. The actual release timelines for these versions of CipherTrust Vaultless Tokenization may be different.
In general, there will be at least two “live” CipherTrust Vaultless Tokenization versions available at any given time: one version in the Active phase and another in the Continued Support phase. In some cases, a third version may also be in the Extended Support phase, allowing customers additional time to transition to newer releases.
To view the exact support status for each release version, refer to CipherTrust Connectors Release Support Status.
Appendix
Application Data Protection Connectors refers to following products:
CipherTrust Batch Data Transformation (BDT)
CipherTrust Application Data Protection (CADP)
CADP for Java
CADP for .NET Core
CADP for C
CipherTrust Application Key Management (CAKM)
CAKM for MSSQL EKM
CAKM for Oracle TDE
CipherTrust Database Protection (CDP)
CDP for Oracle
CDP for MSSQL
CDP for DB2
CipherTrust Teradata Protection (CTP)
CipherTrust Vaulted Tokenization (CT-V)
CipherTrust Vaultless Tokenization (CT-VL)
CipherTrust RESTful Data Protection (CRDP)
CipherTrust Data Protection Gateway (DPG)
