Scans

You can manage scans using the Scans page. The Scans page can be accessed by clicking the Scans link in the Data Discovery sidebar on the left.

From the Scans page you can:

• View all currently available scans. See Viewing Scans.

• Create a new scan. See Adding Scans.

• Run a scan manually. See Running Scans.

• Delete a scan. See Removing Scans.

• Modify an existing scan. See Editing Scans.

• View scan history. See Viewing Scan History.

• Create a copy of a scan. See Duplicating Scans.

Viewing Scans

The graphical view shows the following details:

• Scan Age: Displays a pie chart representing the distribution of scans conducted over different periods.

• Scanned Data Objects: Displays the count of scanned data objects, distinguishing between sensitive and non-sensitive types.

Click the refresh button to refresh the displayed information.

The list view of the Scans page shows the following details:

Tip

If you are planning to perform a CipherTrust Manager upgrade, make sure that you do not have scans in progress.

Use the Search text box to filter scans. Search results display scans that contain specified text in their names.
By default, scans are listed in ascending alphabetic order of their names.
Scans can be sorted by their name, last scan time, duration, and status.

Adding Scans

To add a scan, navigate to the Scans screen (Data Discovery > Scans). Click the +Add Scan button to open the Add Scan wizard.

In the wizard, you have to go over these configuration steps for each scan that you add:

1. General Info - Name the scan and give a short description.

2. Select Data Stores - Select which data stores will be scanned.

3. Add Targets - Narrow down the scan scope by selecting specific scan targets.

4. Select Profiles - Choose which Classification Profile you want to scan for.

5. Apply Filters - Add a list of rules to filter some targets when the scan is launched.

6. Schedule Scan - Configure when you want your scan to run.

General Info

1. In the General Info screen, the wizard asks you to specify a unique name for the scan and to give it a short description:

   • Name - The name must be longer than two characters and up to 64 characters.

   • Description - optional description of up to 250 characters.

2. Expand Advanced Configuration. Specify the following details:

   Parameter	Description
   Scan Priority	Set the scan priority relative to other applications in terms of CPU utilization. You can select Low or Normal. The default setting is Low Priority. It applies only to local storage. If you want to increase the scan performance, set the scan priority to Normal.
   Content supported	Select content type that the scan will process: OCR - Scans images for sensitive data using Optical Character Recognition (OCR). By default, it is disabled (the scanning of images will be skipped).For more details, see Using OCR in Scans. EBCDIC: Scan file systems that use IBM's EBCDIC encoding. By default, it is disabled. Note Use EBCDIC mode only if you are scanning IBM mainframes that use EBCDIC encoded file systems. This mode forces scanning of targets as EBCDIC encoded file systems, which means that it does not detect matches in non-EBCDIC encoded file systems.
   Trace logs	Use toggle switch to enable trace logs and capture detailed scan trace messages when scanning a target. By default, it is disabled. For more information, see Viewing Scan Log. Note You need to run the scan again after enabling trace logs in order to download them. Trace logs may take up a large amount of disk space, depending on the size and complexity of the scan, and may impact system performance. Enable this feature only for troubleshooting. DDC supports trace logs for multiple scan statuses. Refer to Scan Statuses for the list of supported statuses and the supported trace log download formats.
   Memory Usage Limit (MB)	Set the maximum memory usage (in MB) that the scanner service can use on the data store host. The default memory usage limit is 2048 MB. If you want to increase the scan performance, set the memory usage limit between 4GB to 8GB.
   Throughput (MBps)	Set the maximum I/O rate (in MBps) that the scanner service will use to read data from the data store. By default, it is set to 0 (for unlimited).
   Amount of Data Object Volume	Select the amount of data object volume prioritizing either quantity of data objects or information of matches per data object. Choose from: Low - maximum info: Captures maximal detail per file. Medium - core info: Balances quantity of files and matching detail in each file. High - minimal info: Results in a more even spread of match data across a large quantity of files. This is the default option.
   Amount of rows (Only for Relational Database DS)	(Optional) Set the number of rows to scan in each relational database table. The maximum number of allowed rows for the database scan is 2147483647. The supported databases are: IBM DB2 Oracle Microsoft SQL PostgreSQL SAP HANA MySQL Teradata Note If you don't specify the number of rows to scan, the entire databases will be scanned. The number of rows to scan for all tables are selected in the descending order of the primary key. SAP HANA - Rows are selected in the ascending order. Teradata - Rows are selected randomly, if no primary key is defined.

   The Restore Defaults button resets the advanced settings to their default values, however, if you already previously modified these settings for a scan and ran it with the changed configuration the Restore Defaults button will roll back the changes to the last saved configuration. In other words, the Restore Defaults button only reverts the current modifications.

3. Click Next to move on to the Select Data Stores screen.

Select Data Stores

The Select Data Stores screen lists all data stores in tabular form. By default, no data stores are selected. The table has three columns:

• Data Store Name: Lists available data stores (with their number).

• Type: The type of the data store, such as Local Storage, Network Share, etc.

• Agent: Displays the Agent that is connected to that data store. In this column, you can also see if the Agent is ready (that is, if the data store is ready).

To select a data store to scan:

1. Search for the desired data stores by specifying the search criteria in the Search box. The search results will be displayed in the table under it.

2. Select a data store for the scan by selecting the corresponding check box. Similarly, select multiple data stores, if needed.

   

   Tip

   Use the Selected only toggle switch to display only the selected data stores or all data stores (if the switch is 'off' all data sources are displayed).

3. Click Next to move on to the Add Targets screen.

Add Targets

In the Add Targets screen you can review a list of the data stores that you selected for the scan. By default, the scan will scan the entire data store, and this wizard step allows you to narrow down the scan scope by selecting specific targets for your selected data stores. The Add Targets screen is divided into three columns:

• Data Store Name: Lists selected data stores.

• Add Target: You can type in the complete target path in the field and add it to the scan parameters. Or, you can use the Browse button to navigate the target path from the root level or starting from an initial path and add it to the scan parameters. The scan will be performed only on the selected target paths.

  

  Note

  • For SAP HANA, the full data store scan is not supported. You need to specify at least one path.

  • When adding Oracle and IBM DB2 targets, specify the table name exactly as in the database. Table names are case-sensitive.

  • Any scan target that you add must be valid, otherwise the scan will fail. For more information on what a valid scan target is, see Target Format Limitations.

  • For performance sake, try running smaller scans and then generate a report in which you aggregate them. You may schedule a different scan per Data Store and/or per Classification Profile and/or subpaths (such as folders and tables) in the original scan path.

  • You can scan emails in a Gmail label if you move the emails to the label - otherwise, they will be kept in your inbox. For the default system labels, Gmail creates some folders that do not match the label name. Please refer to the Gmail documentation to learn the right path to scan a particular system label.

  • In the case of a Sharepoint Server data store with an API passwords file configured, you have to use an empty target path.

  • To perform a scan on an Office365: OneDrive for Business or Exchange Server data store you have to specify a scan target path. For details, see Target Format Limitations.

To add a scan target for a selected data store, do one of the following:

• Type complete scan target path in the Add Target Path field and click Apply.

• Navigate and add target paths.

  1. Click Browse to navigate target paths from the root level. Alternatively, provide an initial path in the Add Target Path field and click Browse to navigate targets from that point onward.

     

     Note

     Paths are case sensitive. Providing incorrect initial paths may lead to unexpected results. See issues encountered while browsing target paths for more details.

     

     Tip

     Either navigate the target paths from the root level (without specifying any path in the Add Target Path field) or make sure you provide the correct path to navigate further locations within it.

  2. In the left pane, navigate and select the desired target path.

     

     Note

     To view subfolders within the folder hierarchy of a SharePoint Online or SharePoint Server data store, select the folder name and click List.

  3. Click Add Path to add the target path to the right pane. Similarly, add other target paths.

  4. Click Add.

To remove a scan target for a selected data store:

1. Click the arrow button next to the data store name for which you want to remove a scan target.

2. Click the Remove link on the right of the scan target to remove it.

Once all targets are added, click Next to move to the Select Profiles screen.

Tip

Make sure that you do not have nested target paths in a scan for the same data store. This can affect the performance of the scan and you can get duplicated data in the reports.

Select Profiles

The Select Profiles screen lists all classification profiles in tabular form. By default, no profiles are selected. The table has two columns:

• Classification Profile Name: Lists available profiles. Items marked with a letter "T" are predefined classification profile templates. For more information about these templates, see Classification Profile Templates. The other items are custom classification profiles.

Sensitivity: Displays the sensitivity level assigned to this classification profile. See Sensitivity Levels for more information.

To select a classification profile for the scan:

1. Use the search box to specify the search criteria for the desired profiles. The search results are displayed in the table under it.

2. Select the check boxes corresponding to desired profiles for selecting the profiles for the scan.

   

   Tip

   Use the Selected only toggle switch to display only the selected classification profiles or all classification profiles (if the switch is 'off' all classification profiles are displayed).

3. Click Next.

Apply Filters

In the Apply Filters screen you can add a list of rules to filter some targets when the scan is launched. By default, there are no filters applied, and in this step you can add specific rules which affect the data stores selected and their targets (if you specified any). You can configure as many filters as you want.

1. Click the Select Filter menu to expand it. The menu shows you the filters as follows:

   • Exclude location by prefix

     This filter excludes search locations with paths that begin with a given string. It can be used to exclude entire directory trees. Example of such a filter: c:\windows\system32

   • Exclude location by suffix

     This filter excludes search locations with paths that end with a given string. For example, entering led.jnl, excludes files and folders such as canceled.jnl, totaled.jnl.

   • Exclude locations by expression

     This filter excludes search locations by expression. Wildcards '*' and '?' can be used to form expressions for this filter. For example, *data.txt excludes files that end by "data.txt" in any path.

   • Include locations modified recently

     Use this filter to include search locations modified within a given number of days from the current date. For example, enter 14 to display files & folders that have been modified not more than 14 days before the current date.

   • Exclude locations greater than file size

     This filter excludes files that are larger than a given file size (in MB).

   • Include locations within modification date

     Use this filter to include search locations modified within a given range of dates. Files and folders that fall outside of the range set by the selected start and end date are not scanned.

2. For each new filter added click Apply to save and apply its rules.

3. Click Next to move on to the Schedule screen.

   

   Note

   Filters are case insensitive. That is to say, if you have two directories, "TEST" and "test" and apply the filter */test both directories will be excluded as a result. The same goes for filenames.

Depending on the type of data store, some considerations should be taken into account. For more info, see Scan Filter Usage.

Schedule Scan

Scans can be run either manually or automatically at a scheduled time. To configure this:

1. In the Schedule screen select the frequency with which you want the scan to run. The options are:

   • Manual: Select to run the scan manually. This is the default setting. In this case the scan will be run whenever you manually launch it from the Scans screen. For more information about running a scan manually, see Running Scans.

     • Automatic Scan Pause - Use this switch to schedule the time when a scan will pause. For example, you should pause all scans (by using the automatic scan pause) during working hours so they do not affect production servers. Next, use the Time Zone and Select days and time controls to set the days and time when the scan should pause.

     • Run Now - If you select this checkbox, the scan will be run just once after the scan is added successfully.

   • Scheduled: Select to specify a schedule for the run. The scan will be run automatically on the specified schedule. When Scheduled is selected, the following fields appear on the screen:

     • Increment: Select the increment pattern of the run. This is a mandatory field. The options are Daily, Weekly, and Monthly. By default, Daily is selected.

     • Every: Specify when the run should repeat. This is a mandatory field.

     For example, if Daily is selected as Increment, enter 2 to run the scan once every two days. If Weekly is selected as Increment, enter 2 to run the scan once every two weeks. Similarly, if Monthly is selected as Increment, enter 2 to run the scan once every two months.

     • Time: Specify the time when the run should start. This is a mandatory field. Specify the time in 12-hour format.

     • Time Zone: Select a time zone form the drop-down list.

     • Starting: Specify the day when the schedule should start. This is a mandatory field. By default, Today is selected. To specify a particular start date, select On this date, click the calendar icon, and select the date.

     • Ending: Specify the day when the schedule should end. This is a mandatory field. By default, No End is selected. To specify a particular end date, select On this date, click the calendar icon, and select the date.

     • Automatic Scan Pause - Use this switch to schedule the time when a scan will pause. For example, you should pause all scans (by using the automatic scan pause) during working hours so they do not affect production servers. Next, use the Time Zone and Select days and time controls to set the days and time when the scan should pause.

2. Click Save to complete adding the scan.

As a result, the newly created scan appears on the Scans page. By default, scans are displayed in alphabetic order by name. Depending on the number of entries per page, you might need to navigate to other pages to view the newly created scan. By default, the Status of a newly created scan is Unscanned.

Note

If your CM system clock does not match the Agent's system clock, your scans will not run as scheduled, so it is highly recommended to set up a NTP server to synchronize the clocks. This can be achieved in CM through the Admin Settings -> System -> NTP. For details, refer to the Thales CipherTrust Manager Administrator Guide.

Target Format Limitations

What is a valid scan target depends on the data store type. In this section we give you a few tips to have in mind.

Database data sources

When adding scan targets for database data sources (IBM DB, Oracle, andMS-SQL):

• Note that table names are case sensitive but schema names are not case sensitive.

• Oracle data stores accept only tables as scan targets.

• IBM DB and MS-SQL data stores accept schemas or tables as scan targets.

• For Oracle and IBM DB2 it is recommended to set the path in uppercase if the database is configured as case-insensitive.

Cloud data stores

• For Hadoop and AWS S3 type data stores, you can configure a scan to use a specific file as a scan target.

• For Azure Blob type data stores you can only specify containers as scan targets.

• Salesforce data stores:

  • Filters are not supported for Salesforce data stores.

  • You can use the following syntax for the Salesforce target path:

    • Standard Object: s/<object API name>
      Example: s/Account

    • Custom Object: c/<object API name>
      Example: c/Account__c

    • Big Object: b/<object API name>
      Example: b/Account__b

Big Data stores

Due to known Teradata limitations Data Discovery cannot scan the following Teradata internal databases:

• SYSJDBC

• All

• TD_SYSXML

• DBC

• TDStats

• TD_SYSGPL

• PUBLIC

• SQLJ

• SYSBAR

• Default

• SYSLIB

• TD_SYSFNLIB

• LockLogShredder

• tdwm

• TDPUSER

• External_AP

• EXTUSER

• dbcmngr

• SystemFe

• SysAdmin

• TDMaps

• TDQCD

• Crashdumps

• Sys_Calendar

• viewpoint

• TD_SERVER_DB

• console

• SYSUDTLIB

• SYSUIF

• SYSSPATIAL

Office 365 OneDrive for Business

It is not possible to scan all groups from the root location. This is because accounts are located in multiple groups, and scanning all from the root would result in scanning many locations multiple times. For this reason, the user is required to at least specify groups for the scan.

The scan target path for this data store is case sensitive.

Exchange Server

You have to specify a scan target path as scanning of an entire data store is not supported.

Office 365 Sharepoint Online data stores

In case of Office 365 Sharepoint Online type data stores, you need to understand how resources in a Office 365 Sharepoint Online storage are organized and managed.

For sites, /:site gets appended whenever a root site collection, non-root site collection and sub-site locations are added. The location can be probed without explicitly adding /:site in the path field.

Every site collection has List and File folders and to access their content /:site/:list and /:site/:file should be used respectively.

Use the following formats to create your desired scan target paths:

• All lists

  <web_application_url>/<site_collection>/:site/:list

  Example: http://xxxxxx/testdata/:site/:list

• A list

  <web_application_url>/<site_collection>/:site/:list/<list>

  Example: http://xxxxxx/sites/test/:site/:list/Site Pages

• All files

  <web_application_url>/<site_collection>/:site/:file

  Example: http://xxxxxx/testdata/:site/:file

• A folder

  <web_application_url>/<site_collection>/:site/:file/<folder>

  Example: http://xxxxxx/testdata/:site/:file/SharedDocuments

• A file

  <web_application_url>/<site_collection>/:site/:file/<file>

  Example: http://xxxxxx/sites/test/subsite1/:site/:file/EHIC.rtf

• A file in a folder

  <web_application_url>/<site_collection>/:site/:file/<folder>/<file>

  Example:

  http://xxxxxx/testdata/:site/:file/Shared Documents/cards/Amex.odt

  or

  http://xxxxxx/testdata/:site/:file/Shared Documents/2001P11.pdf

Running Scans

To run a scan manually:

1. Navigate to the Scans screen (Data Discovery > Scans).

2. Search for the scan to run.

   

   Tip

   Use the Search text box to filter scans. Search results display scans that contain specified text in their names.

   By default, scans are listed in ascending alphabetic order of their names. Scans can be sorted by their name, last scan time, duration, and status.

3. Move the mouse pointer to the row that contains the scan. The Run Now button appears. This button disappears as soon as the mouse pointer is moved out of the row.

4. Click Run Now.

As soon as the scan is initiated, its status changes to Pending, then the status changes to Processing. If the automatic scan pause is configured for the scan and you are running it within the set time window, the status of that scan will be Autopaused throughout the duration of the time window. After that, the scan is resumed. For more details on the scan auto pause feature, refer to the information in Schedule Scan.

Scan Statuses

The status of the scan changes in the sequence: Unscanned > Validating > Pending > Running now / Paused / Stopped > Processing > Completed / Failed.

The progress of the scan (that is, its current status) is displayed in the Status column in the Scans screen. See the table below for information on the possible statuses and their log download formats:

Note

DDC will always select an agent for every data store when the scan execution begins. It could be the same agent as the previously assigned one, or a new one, regardless of the health status of the assigned agent.

Scan Progress

The progress status of Running and Paused scans is displayed in the form of a progress bar accompanied by a numeric percentage value.

Additionally, you can click the magnifying glass on the right of the progress bar to see detailed information about the scan progress.

Scan in progress displays the following information:

• Progress bars: The Regex Process shows the percentage of regular expressions processed by the scan (to check the scan path).

• The Regex Process tab shows up to 5 unfinished scan paths per hostname/IP ("...% completed"). The detailed information is displayed in these columns:

  • Data Store Identifier - Identifier of the data store on which scan is running. Generally, the identifier matches with the data store's Hostname/IP, but depending on the data store type, it might show different value.

  • Paths - Currently scanned scan paths.

  • % completed - Scan completion of the current scan path in percent.

  • Matches - Number of matches (sensitive items) found in the current scan path.

• The Agents tab shows details of the standard agents running the scan in the following columns:

  • Data Stores - Identifier of the data store on which the scan is running.

  • Agent Name - Agents that are executing scan on the data store.

  • Last Agent Connected - Time when the agent was last connected. This value is updated every five minutes.

  • Status - Connectivity status of the agent (Connected or Not Connected).

  

  Note

  For disconnected agents, Last Agent Connected column doesn't display the time of disconnection. It only displays the most recent time when agent was connected.

Potential Problems When Running Scans

• Ready/Not Ready data store: A scan cannot run unless there is an identified Agent for every data store included in the scan. Such a data store has the status Ready. A scan that has at least one data store that is Not Ready will fail to run, and display an error. If more than one data stores associated with a scan are Not Ready the system will fail on the first data store that is Not Ready and will not check the remaining data stores.

• Disabled/Enabled data store: You can manually deactivate a data store. Such a data store has a status Disabled and it will not be scanned. A scan that has several data stores associated will still run (without an error) even if one or more data stores are Disabled as long as at least one data store is enabled, but it will only scan the enabled data stores. A scan with all data stores Disabled will not run at all.

• Hadoop file access rights: You get a "data store path not accessible" error when scanning a Hadoop data store that has a Hadoop file configured as its scan target, if you do not have access rights to that file.

• IBM, Oracle and MS-SQL - empty table or schema: You get a "table or schema not accessible" error when scanning an empty table or schema.

• IBM, Oracle y MS-SQL - case sensitive table name: In these data stores database schema names are not case sensitive, but table names are case sensitive.

• Scan results that exceed the limit on the amount of information to display may fail with the error "Too many sensitive Data Objects found": In such cases, it is recommended to split the scan into smaller scans.

• Scanning a Gmail label did not find any results: - You can scan emails in a Gmail label if you move the emails to the label - otherwise, they will be kept in your inbox. For the default system labels, Gmail creates some folders that do not match the label name. Please refer to the Gmail documentation to learn the right path to scan a particular system label.

• Text files as BLOBs in Oracle - DDC will not be able to scan any text file stored as BLOB in Oracle if the file size is greater than 4 KB.

• Exchange Online scan completes faster than expected without any matches: Full data store scan is executed successfully even with an incorrect domain name, without triggering any errors. Please verify that the provided domain name is valid.

Editing Scans

To edit a scan:

1. Log on to the DDC console.

2. Open the Data Discovery and Classification application.

3. In the left pane, click Scans. The Scans page is displayed. This page lists available scans.

4. Search for the scan to edit.

5. Use the Search text box to filter scans. Search results display scans that contain specified text in their names.

   By default, scans are listed in ascending alphabetic order of their names.

   Scans can be sorted by their name, last scan time, duration, and status.

6. Click the overflow icon () corresponding to the desired scan. A shortcut menu appears.

7. Click View/Edit from the shortcut menu.

   The selected scan is displayed, with its configuration settings distributed over these sections (which are exactly the same as the steps of the Add Scan wizard):

   • GENERAL

   • DATA STORES

   • TARGETS

   • CLASSIFICATION PROFILES

   • APPLY FILTERS

   • SCHEDULE

   Select Run Now to initiate the scan run after any configuration change. This check box is available for scans that are not in the running state.

   For more details on these sections, refer to the Adding Scans section.

8. Click Expand All to expand all sections or a plus button (+) in the section in which you want to edit the scan configuration to expand just that section. For information on the available settings, refer to Adding Scans.

9. Make the desired changes and click Save Changes to save the changes.

   When you edit a scheduled scan that was disabled, it gets automatically enabled.

   When you edit a scan, you must run it again to see the corresponding report.

Viewing Scan Log

You can download and view a log of a selected scan if it has "Trace Logs" enabled in the advanced scan configuration settings. For more information, see the "Advanced Settings" section of General Info.

1. In the Scans screen, click the overflow icon () corresponding to the desired scan. An overflow menu is displayed, with the Download Logs option available.

2. Click Download Logs in the menu. A dialog box with information "Download logs? Logs for scan "Xyz" are available for downloading." is displayed.¹

3. Click the Download button in the dialog box to confirm the download.

   DDC supports JSON formats for log download. Refer to Scan Statuses for the supported log download formats for different scan statuses.

Note

• If the selected scan does not have logging enabled, you will see this information on clicking the Enable Logs option:

  "You need to enable trace logs in advanced configuration and run the scan "Xyz" again to download logs."

• When you try to download logs of scans in the Running/Stopped/Paused/Autopaused/Interrupted state, latest logs until that point in time are downloaded.

• When the troubleshooting logs download is in progress for a scan, downloading the trace log for that scan in parallel is not allowed. You can trigger the API again only after the previous request is complete.

• The troubleshooting logs can be huge in size depending on the amount of data being scanned, and can also take considerable amount of time in processing before the download starts.

The information written to the log has the following format:

For JSON Format

Removing Scans

1. In the Scans screen, use the Search text box to filter scans and search for the scan that you want to remove.

2. Click the overflow icon () corresponding to the desired scan. An overflow menu is displayed, with the Remove option available.

   

   Note

   The Remove option is available only for Failed, Completed, Stopped, and Disabled scans.

3. Click Remove in the menu.

   A warning message "Remove Scan? Are you sure you want to remove this scan?" is displayed.

4. Click the Remove button in the warning message window to remove the selected scan.

Viewing Scan History

You can view the history details of past scan executions and download their logs.

To view the history details of a scan execution:

1. On the Scans page, click the three dots (...) button corresponding to the desired scan.

2. Select View Executions.

   The Execution History page displays the scan execution history in following columns:

   Column Name	Description
   Scan Executions	Displays scan execution time stamp in descending order.
   Status	Displays the status of scan execution (Failed, Completed, or Stopped). Use the filter button to filter scan execution by their status.
   Duration	Displays the duration of scan execution
   Logs	Allows you to download scan logs. Click the download button to download logs.

Duplicating Scans

You can make copies of existing scans for creating new variants and reducing manual effort of creating scans from scratch. All the configuration details, classification profiles, data stores, target locations, filters, access & tags, schedules, and all other details of the existing scan are replicated in the cloned copy.

To make a copy of a scan:

1. Navigate to Scans screen (CipherTrust Manager > Data Discovery and Classification > Scans).

2. Click the three dots (...) button next to the desired scan that you want to clone.

3. Select Clone.

4. Provide a unique name for the new scan.

5. Click Clone.

Using Optical Character Recognition in Scans

DDC features Optical Character Recognition (OCR) on a number of image file formats. The formats that can be recognized are JPG / JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF, TIFF, and PDF that contains any of these image formats.

Note

OCR scans will usually have a lower accuracy than raw text data scans. They may not always recognize all characters in an image due to multiple factors such as poor image quality, unusual fonts, and complex layouts. This may cause unexpected data object matches.

OCR Caching

The DDC scanning engine caches the result of OCR on an image within a scan, which can then be reused if the same image is later found in multiple locations within the same scan, for example, when scanning data sources like email in which identical images frequently occur in different email messages.

OCR Limitations

The OCR mechanism employed by DDC has the following limitations:

• It cannot detect handwritten information - only typed or printed characters.

• It does not find information stored in screenshots or images of lower quality. The images you scan with OCR enabled must have a minimum resolution of 150 dpi (300dpi or higher is recommended).

At the same time, the accuracy of scans involving OCR will depend on:

• The quality of the image. Any noise in the image such as scanner marks, lines or soft color tones, dust from scanned images, etc.

• The format of the image. Some image formats will result in better detection rates (lossless vs lossy compression).

• Font face, font size and context stored in the image. Fonts within scanned images must be at least 10pt in size. Fonts below that size will not be reliably detected. Abnormally styled fonts may not be clear or consistent.

  

  Note

  OCR is not supported for HP UX 11.31+ (Intel Itanium) and Solaris 9+ (Intel x86) operating systems.

Scan Filter Usage

This section provides you with a more in-depth information on scan filters with some examples of their usage. For more examples, refer to Scan Filters.

Exclude location by prefix

The Exclude location by prefix filter is used to exclude search locations with paths that begin with a given string. Can be used to exclude entire directory trees. For example, exclude all files and folders in the c:\windows\system32 folder.

API filter name: exclude_prefix

Parameters: Expression - mandatory via UI.

Note

API: Without any expression the default expression is "*" (that is to exclude all prefix, in which case nothing is scanned).

Errors: "Expression field required" inline error if you don't type in any text.

Examples:

• With expression "data", the filter takes into account the prefix started by "data" like "dataset.txt" or similar.

• You can use the asterisk "*", a wildcard character that matches zero or more characters in a search string, and the question mark "?", a wildcard character that matches exactly one character. ??? matches 3 characters. If placed at the end of an expression, ? also matches zero characters.

  • File* - Excludes all files beginning with "File"

  • /home/my folder/File* - Excludes all files beginning with "/home/my folder/File"

  • /home/my folder/File*2021 - Excludes all files beginning with "/home/my folder/File" + something + "2021" like "/home/my folder/File2021", "/home/my folder/File_2021", "/home/my folder/File 2021.csv"

Considerations: If you use the filter by expression and refers to a table name, the scan will exclude that table or the columns whose name matches with the filter.

Exclude location by suffix

The Exclude location by suffix is used to exclude search locations with paths that end with a given string. For example, entering led.jnl, excludes files and folders such as canceled.jnl, totaled.jnl.

API filter name: exclude_suffix

Parameters: Expression - mandatory via UI.

Note

API: Without any expression, the default expression is "*" (that is to exclude all suffix, in which case nothing is scanned).

Errors: "Expression field required" inline error if you do not type in any text.

Examples:

• With an expression "txt", the filter takes into account the suffix ended by "txt" like "dataset.txt" or similar.

• You can use the "*"

  • txt - Excludes all files ending with "txt"

  • *txt - Excludes all files ending with "txt"

  • in*txt - Excludes all files ending with "in" + something + "txt" like "information.txt", "in.txt", "data_info.txt"

  • data.??? - Excludes all files ending with "data" + 3 characters like "data.txt", "data.doc", but does not exclude "data.go" or "data.docx".

Considerations: If you use the filter by expression and refers to a table name, the scan will exclude that table or the columns whose name matches with the filter.

Exclude locations by expression

The Exclude locations by expression filter is used to exclude search locations by expression. The syntax the of the expressions you can use are as follows:

• ?: A wildcard character that matches exactly one character; ??? matches 3 characters. C:\V??? matches C:\V123, but not C:\V1234 or C:\V1.
• *: A wildcard character that matches zero or more characters in a search string. /directory-name/ matches all files in the directory. /directory-name/.txt matches all txt files in the directory.

API filter name: exclude_expression

Parameters: Expression - mandatory via UI.

Note

API: Without any expression, the default expression is "*" (that is to exclude all expressions, in which case nothing is scanned).

Errors: "Expression field required" inline error if you don't type in any text.

Examples:

• With expression data.txt, the filter excludes files that match exactly with "data.txt" (be careful with the path).

• You can use the "*"

  • *data.txt - Excludes files that end by "data.txt" in any path.

  • data - Excludes files that match with anything + "data" + anything, like "/home/my dir/data", "/data.txt", "C:

    • my folder\data1

    • my sensitive file.txt"

  • data.txt* - Excludes files that start with "data.txt" in any path.

  • *data.??? - Excludes all files ending with anything + "data" + 3 characters like "data.txt", "/home/data.txt", "C:

  • data.txt", "data.doc", but does not exclude "data.go" or "data.docx".

Considerations: If you use the filter by expression and refers to a table name, the scan will exclude that table or the columns whose name matches with the filter.

Include locations modified recently

The Include locations modified recently filter is used to include search locations modified within a given number of days from the current date. For example, enter 14 to display files & folders that have been modified not more than 14 days before the current date.

API filter name: include_recent

Parameters: Days from current date - integer number up to 99 - mandatory

Errors: days missing/wrong param for include_recent filter → "message": "Invalid number of days"

Examples: Filter value: 5 → The filter includes files and folders that have been modified not more than 5 days before the current date.

Exclude locations greater than file size (MB)

The Exclude locations greater than file size (MB) filter is used to exclude files that are larger than a given file size (in MB).

API filter name: exclude_max_size

Parameters: MB: integer number equal or greater than 1 MB - mandatory

Errors: size missing/wrong param for exclude_max_size filter - "message": "Invalid max size: " / "message": "Invalid max size: 0"

Examples: Filter value: 15 - Exclude files that are larger than 15 MB

Note

In the case of AWS S3, ".zip files" are treated as folders by the scan agent. Hence, ".zip files" that are larger than the size specified in the exclude_max_size filer are not actually excluded.

Include locations within modification date

Description: Include search locations modified within a given range of dates. Prompts you to select a start date and an end date. Files and folders that fall outside of the range set by the selected start and end date are not scanned.

API filter name: include_date_range

Parameters:

• Start date - mandatory

• End date - mandatory

Errors:

• to_date and from_date missing/wrong param for include_date_range filter - "message": "Invalid start date"

• to_date missing/wrong param for include_date_range filter - "message": "Invalid start date"

• from_date missing/wrong param for include_date_range filter - Be careful! - "message": "Invalid start date"

Examples:

• If you set a date with some text before the format <YYYY-MM-DD>, i.e. "2021-05-21 kjsf" or "2021-05-21 14:23", then only is taken the match "2021-05-21"

• If the to_date param is greater than from_date no error is returned.

Limitations: For data stores like Databases, Exchange Online, G-Mail, etc, it seems that the filter by date works for folder and files, but not for databases or email.

Additional Considerations With Relation to Data Store Types

Databases

• Be careful with the expression when you try to exclude some objects like tables or schemes. For example, if you want to exclude a specific table in MSSQL, you can use a filter like mydb:1433/myschema/mytable, taking into account the database, the schema and the table.

• In MongoDB if you want to skip one table you have to put an star at the beginning of the table like so:
  "contacts"
  to take into account the table or if not, to specify the full path:
  "sensitive-data:27017/contacts/"
  (specifying the database and the port). If you only put "sensitive-data:27017/contacts" the filter does not work. The column filter does not seem to work on MongoDB. This limitation is only applicable to the exclude_expression filter.

Filter Columns in Databases

You can filter out columns in databases by using the "Exclude location by suffix" filter to specify the columns or tables to exclude from the scan.

Note

Filtering locations for all Target types use the same syntax. For example, an "Exclude location by suffix" filter for columnB when applied to a database will exclude columns named columnB in the scan. If the same filter is applied to a Linux file system, it will exclude all file paths that end with columnB (for example, /usr/share/columnB). Use the Apply to field if the global filter only needs to be applied to a specific Target Group or Target.

Database Index or Primary Keys

Certain tables or columns, such as a database index or primary key, cannot be excluded from a scan. If a filter applied to the scan excludes these tables or columns, the scan will ignore the filter.

File Systems

Regarding the "Include locations modified recently" and "Include locations within modification date" filters, both ranges are taken into account. For example:

1. We have a file edited on 20th August 2021 and another one edited in November 2019. Then we add the filters on 20th August:

   • "Include locations modified recently" - 4 Days from the current date,

   • "Include locations within modification date" - Start: 15th Oct 2019 - End: 17th Aug 2021.

2. Then both files are taken into account. Both these filters work with the conjunction of the elements.