Organizations often handle sensitive and confidential information in documents, creating a critical need for advanced tools to secure that data effectively. Whether managing personal identifiers like social security numbers or complying with strict regulations like PCI, HIPAA, GDPR, and CCPA, businesses must ensure documents are cleared of sensitive data before they are shared or stored. Unlike traditional data loss prevention (DLP) tools, Glasswall’s Find and Redact—integrated within our Meteor product—provides a unique advantage.

Built on Glasswall’s Content Disarm and Reconstruction (CDR) technology, Meteor makes file opening safe by neutralizing threats before analysis. It also goes deeper than typical DLP solutions by exposing all strings within the visual layer, including hidden elements like embedded metadata, ensuring that Find and Redact addresses all data within a file—not just what’s visible on screen. This holistic approach allows organizations to confidently protect and manage sensitive information while meeting compliance standards.

What is Find and Redact?

The Find and Redact feature provides an intuitive user interface (UI) that allows users to set customized "find", "redact", or "block" rules for identifying sensitive information across Office documents. The tool offers flexibility in its approach by letting users define custom words or phrases to search for, as well as code their own regular expressions.

Unlike the existing find-and-replace functionality in Microsoft Office, which requires users to open files individually and manually replace terms, Find and Redact is designed for scalability. It can process single documents or large batches of files simultaneously, making it an ideal solution for organizations that need to mitigate the risk of sensitive information spreading both within their network and externally.

Key features

• Data security: prevents unauthorized exposure of sensitive information, both internally and externally.

• Regulatory compliance: helps organizations comply with key regulatory requirements like PCI, HIPAA, GDPR, and CCPA by automatically redacting or blocking sensitive data.

• Scalability and automation: process single or multiple files at scale, ensuring that sensitive information is identified and handled appropriately in real time.

• User-friendly interface: no need for users to know how to write regular expressions or coding—Glasswall Meteor provides an easy-to-use UI that simplifies the entire process.

How it works

The Find and Redact feature works seamlessly alongside Glasswall’s Content Disarm and Reconstruction (CDR) technology within Glasswall Meteor. Supported files are processed according to the user’s policy settings, and the find, redact, or block rules are applied based on these configurations. This dual functionality not only sanitizes files but also helps prevent the inadvertent dissemination of sensitive data.

The tool offers users two main approaches:

• Find and Redact: automatically locate sensitive information and redact it, leaving the document safe to share or store.

• Find and Block: detect sensitive information and prevent the document from being processed or shared if the data poses a compliance or security risk.

Why your organization will benefit from Find and Redact

Organizations across sectors—healthcare, finance, government, insurance, and legal—face serious risks from sensitive data sprawl. Meeting compliance standards like PCI, HIPAA, GDPR, and CCPA can be challenging, and Glasswall’s Find and Redact offers a robust solution that mitigates accidental data exposure at scale.

Unlike In contrast to traditional DLP solutions that only search the visual layer of a file, Find and Redact, powered by Glasswall’s Meteor, leverages our Content Disarm and Reconstruction (CDR) process. This approach not only makes file opening safe, reducing the risk of malware detonation but also ensures every string in the visual layer is uncovered—including hidden components like embedded metadata. This thorough analysis means Find and Redact addresses all data within a file, not just what is visible on screen, eliminating the risk of unintended data exfiltration.

For example, a financial institution handling vast amounts of credit card data can use Find and Redact to automatically redact sensitive information across hundreds of files in just a few clicks. Similarly, healthcare providers managing personal health records can easily comply with HIPAA’s strict privacy requirements.

Microsoft Office’s find-and-replace function is manual and time-intensive, requiring users to open files one by one. In contrast, Find and Redact automates sensitive data identification and removal across files, allowing organizations to protect their data efficiently and at scale.

A better solution for sensitive data

Whether you're cleaning a single file or processing large batches regularly using Sync and Clean, Find and Redact ensures that your sensitive information is protected - keeping your organization compliant, secure, and efficient.

The launch of Glasswall’s Find and Redact marks a significant step forward in data protection, helping organizations mitigate the risks associated with sensitive information. By automating the detection and redaction of sensitive data, this feature empowers businesses to confidently navigate today’s data privacy challenges while maintaining compliance and improving operational efficiency.

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