Sensitive Data Types Group

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Add Button

To add a new Sensitive Data Type entry, click the Add button.

The Add Sensitive Data Type dialog will display.

The available Sensitive Data Types are:

Keyword

Spirion looks for any exact matches to your keywords without regard to context. For example, if you added the keyword "to" (without the quotes), you would receive results matching the "to" in; for example, to, town, into, and altogether. If you want to ensure that there are, for example, spaces before and after the keyword, you can include those spaces by typing " to " (without the quotes) but you will have much greater control by using Regular Expressions.

Note: Keywords are case sensitive. If you would like to search for a case insensitive keyword (for example to match "to", "To", "TO", and "tO" in the example above), you can add "to" (without the quotes) as a Regular Expression.

Regular Expression

Regular Expressions allows you to specify any regular expressions (RegEx) to include in the search. Regular expressions allow you to search for patterns such as a sequence of digits, a word surrounded by white space, and even complex formatted strings. Spirion uses the Perl regular expression syntax from the boost Libraries. Regular expressions are case insensitive. If you would like to search for a case sensitive keyword (for example to match "to" but not "To", "TO", or "tO"), you can add "to" (without the quotes) as a Keyword.

For example, to search for 2 digits followed by a dash followed by 4 digits, you could add the RegEx: \d{2}-\d{4} (note, this is just an example and may not meet your specific needs).

This would match 43-5343 and 56-2313 but would also match within 35435-324322 and return the result 35-3243. To not match the latter case, you could enhance the expression to require leading and trailing white space: \s\d{2}-\d{4}\s

Dictionary

Using a dictionary allows Spirion to search for words that are present within the dictionary that you specify. Detailed information on the structure of a dictionary is available in the client User Guide.

A Dictionary can also include phrases and can be configured using the following policy settings in a policy applied to the endpoint:

Sensitive Data Definition

A Sensitive Data Definition allows Spirion to search for data types using criteria that you specify with a declarative Sensitive Data Definition.

Search API

Search API is used to select the Sensitive Data types that allow a client to search for data unique to your environment. The Sensitive Data Type is in the form of a Dynamic Link Library (DLL) that you provide. For results of this type to appear in the Console, the Sensitive Data Type DLL must also exist on every Windows endpoint performing a search for results of this type. The following settings in a policy applied to an endpoint must be configured.

Spirion has an Application Programming Interface (API) that allows developers to create their own rules and definitions for finding personal information and sensitive data. For example, you can easily create logic to find a pattern of numbers or characters to hone in on the particular sensitive information you want to discover and clean. If you are an enterprise customer, please contact the Spirion Team to obtain access to our API.

Exact Match

Exact Match allows you to search for specific information on the endpoint. This is most useful to find data unique to your environment such as a specific Social Security Number or Date of Birth. The Console does not provide any validation that the Personal Information you have entered is valid for the specified Identity Type.

Note: See the Exact Match Validation section of the Sensitive Data Types Content.

Note: Search API DLLs must be built with Visual Studio 2015.

Note: Any of the Sensitive Data Types data that you enter here will not be displayed on the Custom Types page in the client UI.

Note: A Sensitive Data Type will not have any effect on searches unless it is assigned to a policy. For detailed information, please refer to the Sensitive Data Types section of the Policies.

Note: The following names are reserved and cannot be used: SSN, CCN, PASS, ACCT, DL, DOB, PHONE, EMAIL, ADDRESS, PASSPORT, MAIDEN, CANADASIN, UKNINO, UKNHS, AUTFN, CUSTOMREGEX, CUSTOMKEYWORD, CUSTOMDICTIONARY, CUSTOMNAME, NPINUMBER, DEANUMBER, HEALTHINFO, FILEHASH.

View/Edit Button

To modify an existing Sensitive Data Type, click the entry you wish to modify and select the Edit button. The Edit dialog opens allowing you to make any desired changes. Click OK to accept the changes. Clicking the Cancel button discards any changes.

Remove Button

To delete a Sensitive Data Type, click the entry you wish to delete and select the Remove button. The Remove button permanently deletes the selected entry and cannot be reversed.

A prompt displays to confirm that you would like to delete the selected entry.

Import Button

Import a properly formatted XML Sensitive Data Type from a file. The Import button allows you to add the specified file to the Sensitive Data Types content. Select Import and then use the file selection dialog to locate the Sensitive Data Types XML file on disk.

Export Button

Export the selected Sensitive Data Types in an XML format. The Export button allows you to save a Sensitive Data Type to a file for offline viewing, distribution, or for importing and processing by another application. When saved in XML format, any sensitive information in the file is stored as clear text and the file itself should be treated as sensitive information.

Import CSV Button

The CSV Import allows the creation of multiple Sensitive Data Types (SDTs) and Sensitive Data Definitions (SDDs). Each column in the CSV creates one SDT. Each row in the CSV creates one SDD referencing all the SDTs created from that row.

To import the CSV:

  1. Click the Import CSV button to open the Import CSV dialog box.

    2. Import the CSV window

  2. Select a CSV file. The File Name text box is read-only and is set to the name of the selected file. It cannot be changed. The Name defaults to the file name without the extension. It can be edited, but selecting a new file overwrites any file name entered. The Preview button is enabled when the file is selected. If necessary, clear the current preview if one was previously loaded (including the UI warning message noted below).

  3. Manually select the Header row check box based on the file selected.
    Note: The presence of a header row cannot be auto-detected.
  4. Changing the value of the check box clears the preview data including the UI warning message that may display.
  5. Press the Preview button to process the contents of the selected file and load the preview area. This can be done multiple times.

Example: Import file with a header is selected and Preview is pressed without checking the header row box. As shown, the header information is loaded into the sample data.

To correct the preview data:

  1. Check the header row box and press Preview again. There is no need to select the file. The header information loads into the Name column and the sample data from the first data row in the import file properly displays.

If the import file contains data that results in more than 100 custom types being created, a warning displays next to the Preview button (see image below).

The total count of types to be created is determined as follows:

Each column that has data creates one SDT. Each row creates one SDD. If a file has five columns and two rows, it creates 10 SDTs and two SDDs for a total of 12.

Once the preview loads, the Type for each column can be modified. There are two available options.

  1. Keyword (default)
  2. Exact Match

When exact match is selected you must also select the exact match type. A secondary drop-down displays as shown below.

Exact match types:

Exact match types are validated using the same validation applied if you create a single Exact Match type outside of the import. If you select Exact Match | Social Security Number for a column, then all data for this column in the CSV must be a properly formatted SSN (xxx-xx-xxxx) or the import displays an error. Error scenarios and messages are noted at the end of this section.

All the SDTs created have the name entered on the dialog with row column appended. The SDDs just have the name and row. Note: this is the actual row number in the CSV so if you have a header row (which is row 1) then the first SDD/SDTs created is row 2 (E.g. Name2_1; Name 2_2; etc.) as shown in the example below.

Final Selections on the Import Dialog

The “Operator” determines the logical operator used for the created SDDs across the entire row as shown in the images below.

Note the “And” highlighted. If OR is selected on the import dialog this would be “Or.”

Expected Errors

Empty File

This error occurs when selecting a file “…” if the file is completely empty (for example, not a single character or space is in the file.)

The error message displays when pressing the Preview button if, for example, the file only contains line feeds and spaces, or if a header row is checked and the file only contains a header row with no other data.

Duplicate Name

This error occurs if a name is entered on the import dialog previously used with another import.

Exact Match Validation

Example file with invalid SSN. If exact match SSN is selected for column four in the preview data, the following error displays.

The error dialog only references the row and column of the first error found. If there are more rows in the import with invalid values, they should be corrected. All data must be entered properly to pass validation and complete the import.

Other Error Messages

Import With No File Selected

Import With No Name Entered

Import Exceeding Maximum Name Length

Import When Data Has Not Been Previewed

Import When Exact match Subtype Is Not Selected

Refresh Button

Click the Refresh button to update the Sensitive Data Types to reflect any changes since the last logon or refresh.