By default, users with the Datadog Admin role have access to view and set up scanning rules. To allow other users access, grant the data_scanner_read or data_scanner_write permissions under Compliance to a custom role. See Access Control for details on how to set up roles and permissions.

1. Grant appropriate permissions. By default, users with the Datadog Admin role have access to view and set up scanning rules. To allow other users access, grant the data_scanner_read or data_scanner_write permissions under Compliance to a custom role. See Access Control for details on how to set up roles and permissions.

2. Follow the steps to enable remote configuration.

3. Install the Datadog Agent v7.54 or newer.

A scanning group determines what data to scan. It consists of a query filter and a set of toggles to enable scanning for logs, APM, RUM, and events. See the Log Search Syntax documentation to learn more about query filters.

For Terraform, see the Datadog Sensitive Data Scanner group resource.

To set up a scanning group, perform the following steps:

1. Navigate to the Sensitive Data Scanner configuration page.
2. Click Add scanning group. Alternatively, click the Add dropdown menu on the top right corner of the page and select Add Scanning Group.
3. Enter a query filter for the data you want to scan. At the top, click APM Spans to preview the filtered spans. Click Logs to see the filtered logs.
4. Enter a name and description for the group.
5. Click the toggle buttons to enable Sensitive Data Scanner for the products you want (for example, logs, APM spans, RUM events, and Datadog events).
6. Click Create.

A scanning group determines what logs to scan. It consists of a query filter to match eligible agents based on host tags.

To set up a scanning group, perform the following steps:

1. Navigate to the Sensitive Data Scanner using the Agent configuration page.
2. Click Add scanning group. Alternatively, click the Add dropdown menu on the top right corner of the page and select Add Scanning Group.
3. Enter a query filter for the data you want to scan. You can use only host-level tags for matching agents. At the bottom, the number of matching and eligible agents is displayed, including the total number out of all agents that match the tag.
4. Enter a name and description for the group.
5. Click Save.

A scanning rule determines what sensitive information to match within the data defined by a scanning group. You can add predefined scanning rules from Datadog’s Scanning Rule Library or create your own rules using regex patterns. The data is scanned at ingestion time during processing. For logs, this means the scan is done before indexing and other routing decisions.

For Terraform, see the Datadog Sensitive Data Scanner rule resource.

To add scanning rules, perform the following steps:

1. Navigate to the Sensitive Data Scanner configuration page.
2. Click the scanning group where you want to add the scanning rules.
3. Click Add Scanning Rule. Alternatively, click the Add dropdown menu on the top right corner of the page and select Add Scanning Rule.
4. Select whether you want to add a library rule or create a custom scanning rule.

Notes:

• Any rules that you add or update affect only data coming into Datadog after the rule was defined.
• Sensitive Data Scanner does not affect any rules you define on the Datadog Agent directly.
• After rules are added, ensure that the toggles for your scanning groups are enabled to begin scanning.

See Investigate Sensitive Data Issues for details on how to use the Summary page to triage your sensitive data issues.

A scanning rule determines what sensitive information to match within the data defined by a scanning group. The Datadog Agent scans your data in your local environment during log collection, before logs are sent to the Datadog platform.

To add scanning rules, perform the following steps:

1. Navigate to the Sensitive Data Scanner using the Agent configuration page.
2. Click Add Scanning Rule. Alternatively, click the Add dropdown menu on the top right corner of the page and select Add Scanning Rule.
3. In the Add library rules to the scanning group section, select the library rules you want to use. Use the Filter library rules input to search existing library rules. Next to the rule name you can find the list of predefined tags for each rule.
4. In the Define rule target and action section, select the action that you want to take for the matched sensitive information. Note: Redaction, partial redaction, and hashing are all irreversible actions.
   • Redact: Replaces all matching values with the text you specify in the Replacement text field.
   • Partially Redact: Replaces a specified portion of all matched data. In the Redact section, specify the number of characters you want to redact and which part of the matched data to redact.
   • Hash: Replaces all matched data with a unique identifier. The UTF-8 bytes of the match is hashed with the 64-bit fingerprint of FarmHash.
5. Optionally, add additional tags you want to associate with events where the values match the specified regex pattern. Datadog adds sensitive_data and sensitive_data_category tags by default. These tags can then be used in searches, dashboards, and monitors. See Control access to logs with sensitive data for information on how to use tags to determine who can access logs containing sensitive information.
6. Click Save.

Notes:

• Any rules that you add or update affect only data coming into Datadog after the rule was defined.
• After rules are added, ensure that the toggles for your scanning groups are enabled to begin scanning.

1. Navigate to the Sensitive Data Scanner configuration page.

2. Hover over the scanning rule you want to edit and click the Edit (pencil) icon.

   The Define match conditions section shows either the regular expression you wrote for your custom rule or an explanation of the library scanning rule you chose along with examples of matched sensitive information.

3. To make sure that a rule matches your data, you can provide a sample in the Add sample data section. If the rule finds matches in the sample data, a green Match label appears next to the input field.

4. Under Create keyword dictionary, you can add keywords to refine detection accuracy. For example, if you are scanning for a sixteen-digit Visa credit card number, you can add keywords like visa, credit, and card.

5. Choose the number of characters before a match that the keyword must appear in. By default, keywords must be within 30 characters before a match.

6. Optionally, under Define rule target and action, edit the tags that you want to associate with events where the values match the rule. Datadog recommends using sensitive_data and sensitive_data_category tags, which can be used in searches, dashboards, and monitors. See Control access to logs with sensitive data for information on how to use tags to determine who can access logs that contain sensitive data.

7. For Set priority level, choose a value based on your business needs.

8. Click Update.

1. Navigate to the Sensitive Data Scanner using the Agent configuration page.

2. Hover over the scanning rule you want to edit and click the Edit (pencil) icon.

   The Define match conditions section shows an explanation of the library scanning rule you chose along with examples of matched sensitive information.

3. Under Create keyword dictionary, you can add keywords to refine detection accuracy. For example, if you are scanning for a sixteen-digit Visa credit card number, you can add keywords like visa, credit, and card.

4. Choose the number of characters before a match that the keyword must appear in. By default, keywords must be within 30 characters before a match.

5. Click Save.

To redact sensitive data contained in tags, you must remap the tag to an attribute and then redact the attribute. Uncheck Preserve source attribute in the remapper processor so that the tag is not preserved during the remapping.

To remap the tag to an attribute:

1. Navigate to your log pipeline.
2. Click Add Processor.
3. Select Remapper in the processor type dropdown menu.
4. Name the processor.
5. Select Tag key(s).
6. Enter the tag key.
7. Enter a name for the attribute the tag key is remapped to.
8. Disable Preserve source attribute.
9. Click Create.

To redact the attribute:

1. Navigate to your scanning group.
2. Click Add Scanning Rule.
3. Check the library rules you want to use.
4. Select Specific Attributes for Scan entire event or portion of it.
5. Enter the name of the attribute you created earlier to specify that you want it scanned.
6. Select the action you want when there’s a match.
7. Optionally, add tags.
8. Click Add Rules.

This functionality is not available for Sensitive Data Scanner using the Agent.