Personal Identifiable Information (PII) Scan

Owned by Vrushali Parkar

Last updated: Jan 31, 2024 by Vrushali

6 min read

Personally identifiable information (PII) is information that, when used alone or with other relevant data, can identify an individual.

Navigate to Company View and select the company for which the PII scan is to be initiated.

PII Scan Profile - Beta

In the main menu, the PII Scan Profile option can be selected. Which will allow the user to create a PII Scan profile as per the requirement.
Click on +Add to add a new scan profile

Profile Name to be given for the new profile.
Scan Settings lets you choose all by selecting the Select All option. Users can select optional information from fields like Phone, Date Of Birth, OAuth Token, Email, IP, Credit Card, and SSN.
While scanning the information selected into the profile attached is considered.

Select the Default Extension Type Select All option. Users can select optional extension types html, json, yaml, yml, tex, xml, ts, sh, wpd, php, go, cpp, c, js, xlsm.

Select the appropriate Source Type and an Agent to use for PII Scan.

Select the Default Source Type as Files to be used for this scan.

Select Source Type as Files and provide information for Path Settings such as Included Location(s). Exclude the Location for the system that has Lightweight Agent installed on it.
For File Server Shares, provide Include Location, and Exclude Location information to complete the profile.

Next, select a CyberCNS Agent for PII Scan from the dropdown ( It will list existing installed agents in the list)
Once all required fields are selected, please click on Save to successfully save this PII Profile with a message as Saved Successfully.

The created PII Scan Profiles can be edited or deleted as required.

Initiating PII Scan

Navigate to the Probes/Agents section further.
Click on the PII Scan option to initiate a PII Scan. Once the scan is initiated, a Success message is flashed.

PII Scan Profile - Beta at Global Level.

PII Scan Profile can be defined at the Global-View level.
Add Scan Profile with the information such as Profile Name, Scan settings, Source Type, and select the companies.

Profile Name to be given for the new profile.
Scan Settings lets you choose all by selecting the Select All option. Users can select optional information from fields like Surname, Phone, Date Of Birth, Postal Code, OAuth Token, Location, Email, IP, Credit Card, Phone, SSN, and Street.
While scanning the information selected into the profile attached is considered.

Select the Default Extension Type Select All option. Users can select optional extension types html, json, yaml, yml, tex, xml, ts, sh, wpd, php, go, cpp, c, js, xlsm.

Select Source Type as Files and provide information for Path Settings such as Included Location(s). Exclude the Location for the system that has Lightweight Agent installed on it.
For File Server Shares, provide Include Location, and Exclude Location information to complete the profile.
Select All Companies or Companies to Attach this PII Scan Profile - Beta to and Save.

Select the appropriate Source Type, and Company to use for PII Scan.
Select All Companies or Companies to Attach this PII Scan Profile - Beta to and Save.

The created PII Scan Profiles - Beta can be edited or deleted as required.

PII Scan job can be monitored from the JOBS section as shown below.

PII Scan Results - Beta can be seen under the PII Scan Results section at Company Level under the main menu.

The PII scan results data can be Suppressed or Unsuppressed, Delete using action. The Suppressed and Unsuppressed data will be shown accordingly in the reports. The Action can be changed at any time.

Click on Suppress popup will appear as want to Suppress the selected result.

Click on Unsuppress popup will appear as want to unsuppress the selected result.

The PII Scan results can be filtered based on All data, Suppressed or Unsuppressed under the Filter option.

PII Scan Results - Beta can be seen under the PII Scan Results section at Global Level.

The PII scan results data can be Suppressed or Unsuppressed under action. The Suppressed and Unsuppressed data will be shown accordingly in the reports. The Action can be changed at any time.

The PII Scan results can be filtered based on All data, Suppressed or Unsuppressed under the Filter option.

Jobs will have details like Status, Asset Name, Asset Type, Details, Line Number, and PII Data and found.
Line Number will give you more details about the results like Found In location and Line numbers.

PII Scan using wild card:

By adding * in the file path, the folder can be excluded from the scan.
E.g. file path with * to exclude AppData folder in the exclude path from the scan.

Add file path with * to exclude the folder in the path mentioned.

PII scan results obtained excluding the AppData folder as shown below:

The PII scan results data can be Suppressed or Unsuppressed under action. The Suppressed and Unsuppressed data will be shown accordingly in the reports. The Action can be changed at any time. and Delete.

PII scan can be performed with or without ‘\’ added at the end of the file path.

This completes PII Scan documentation.