Interactive Application Security Testing (IAST) can find this. But unless you configure it to mask sensitive data, detection alone is not enough. Masking prevents private information from being stored or displayed in plain form. Names, emails, credit card numbers, tokens—these must never escape into output that someone can read or scrape.
IAST mask sensitive data features work by hooking into application runtime. As the tool inspects requests, responses, and variables, it replaces sensitive segments with safe placeholders. This keeps security reports clean and compliant while still showing exactly where the issue exists. It preserves context without leaking actual values.
Masking inside IAST is not only best practice—it is a safeguard against security test artifacts becoming liabilities. Logs from automated scans can be vast. If masking is absent, those logs can themselves become an attack vector. Data masking ensures your vulnerability evidence is scrubbed before storage.