Clearswift Discovery
You set up clearswift discovery by pointing scanner agents at your file shares and servers. These agents read stored files and match patterns like card numbers or national IDs. Most teams run these scans on a weekly timer to find private records at rest. When teams grant broad database roles, Still, engineers still pull raw data during live work. How clearswift discovery works across stored files A discovery tool looks for sensitive text hidden inside folders, shared drives, and local disks.
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You set up clearswift discovery by pointing scanner agents at your file shares and servers. These agents read stored files and match patterns like card numbers or national IDs. Most teams run these scans on a weekly timer to find private records at rest. When teams grant broad database roles, Still, engineers still pull raw data during live work.
How clearswift discovery works across stored files
A discovery tool looks for sensitive text hidden inside folders, shared drives, and local disks. You install an agent on a host or give the scanner a network read role. The scanner walks through each folder and opens documents, spreadsheets, and text logs.
Next, the engine checks the text against a list of rules and word patterns. It flags strings that look like emails, phone numbers, card numbers, or national IDs. When the scanner finds a match, it writes a record to a central report.
Security teams read this report to see which servers hold private files. They can then move those files, delete old copies, or tighten folder permissions. This workflow helps teams clean up forgotten files on shared storage.
Where clearswift discovery fits in a data check plan
Running clearswift discovery works best when you need an inventory of static files. Teams often find old exports or CSV dumps left behind on shared drives. An engineer might export a table to fix a bug and forget to delete it. Scheduled file scans catch these leftover files so the team can remove them.
To run these scans, admins must give the scanner broad read permissions across many hosts. Managing those scanner credentials takes careful work. If a scanner role has too much power, it becomes a risk on its own. Teams must scope the scanner role so it only reads the folders that need checks.
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What static file scanning solves and what it misses
Static file scans solve the problem of finding forgotten data at rest on disks. They tell you what landed on a server yesterday or last week. They also help auditors verify that shared folders do not hold plain card numbers.
Still, static scans do not watch live database sessions or active command lines. Storage and database roles only decide who can log in to a system. They do not inspect what individual queries or commands do while a session runs.
When a developer logs in with a valid database role, they can run any read query. If they run a broad select query, raw emails and phone numbers return right away. A scheduled disk scanner will not block that query or rewrite the results in flight. By the time a weekly scan runs, the live session is already over. Teams need controls that work during the live session itself, where masking rewrites matched fields in results.
Add runtime guardrails and masking beside your databases and APIs
Login rules, role grants, and CI checks govern who connects to your stack. Yet any allowed script, engineer, or AI agent still runs commands with the full scope of its role. For workloads on Postgres, MySQL, SQL Server, MongoDB, ClickHouse, Kubernetes, SSH, or internal HTTP services, hoop.dev sits beside the service as an open-source proxy, a sidecar for your database or API.
Before a query runs, hoop.dev guardrails check the statement against your rules. An AI Analyzer you configure can score intent or hold risky calls for human review. Next, hoop.dev data masking rewrites sensitive fields in responses, and each verdict is logged per listener. Explore the MIT-licensed project on GitHub.
Frequently asked questions
Does clearswift discovery stop live database queries?
No, it scans stored files and folders on a schedule to find data at rest. It does not sit in the path of live database queries or terminal commands.
What types of data do discovery scans usually match?
Scanners use pattern rules to find emails, phone numbers, card numbers, and national IDs. Teams can also add custom word lists to find internal project codes inside files.
Why do teams need both static scans and live session controls?
Static scans find old files left on disks so teams can delete or move them. Live session controls check active queries and mask private fields like card numbers in results.