How to Redact PCI Data in SharePoint Automatically

SharePoint is not built to automatically redact PCI data. It focuses on document access management, versioning, and collaboration, not PCI DSS–level content inspection. Key gaps include:

• No automated redaction for cardholder data
• No PCI scanning inside PDFs, scans, or images
• No OCR to detect card numbers inside screenshots
• No real-time remediation (mask, redact, delete)
• No continuous monitoring of synced OneDrive folders
• No PCI DSS rule templates or audit trails
• No historical scanning to clean already-uploaded files

To remain compliant with PCI DSS 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, and 4.2, organizations must ensure card numbers are not stored in raw form inside collaboration platforms. SharePoint alone cannot meet these requirements without a dedicated PCI DLP solution.

What (PCI) Credit Card Numbers Data Looks Like Inside SharePoint

PCI exposure inside SharePoint is extremely common, because users upload a wide variety of financial documents every day, such as:

• Scanned payment authorization forms
• Credit card photos or screenshots
• Bank statements and ACH forms
• PDF invoices with full PAN numbers
• CSV exports containing account and routing numbers
• Payment confirmation emails with embedded card details
• Contract attachments containing financial identifiers

Examples of PCI that Strac detects include:

• 4242 4242 4242 4242
• 4111-1111-1111-1111
• 5500 0000 0000 0004
• AMEX, Visa, Mastercard, Discover formats
• Bank account + routing combinations
• IBAN and international account numbers
• PCI hidden inside images, receipts, scans, and multi-page PDFs

Strac uses OCR + AI + contextual signals like “cardholder”, “billing”, “transaction”, “payment” to dramatically reduce false positives.

What It Means to Redact (PCI) Credit Card Numbers in SharePoint

Redaction removes or masks only the sensitive portion of the card data while preserving the rest of the document.
Example:
The text:
Card Number: 4242 4242 4242 4242
becomes:
Card Number: **** **** **** 4242

Why redaction is better than outright deletion:

• File context remains intact
• Users can still collaborate on documents
• Payment info can be referenced without exposing raw PCI
• Compliance officers maintain clean, auditable logs
• No interruption to business workflows

Strac redacts PCI automatically in:

• Word documents
• Excel sheets
• PDFs
• JPG/PNG screenshots
• Scanned forms
• CSV exports
• ZIP uploads
• Synced OneDrive folders connected to SharePoint
• Metadata, embedded text layers, and attachments

How to Automatically Redact (PCI) Credit Card Numbers in SharePoint with Strac

Strac continuously monitors SharePoint libraries and synced OneDrive folders for PCI data. The platform scans uploaded files, edits, new versions, shared links, and bulk imports. Once PCI is detected, Strac applies content-aware redaction instantly, replacing sensitive data with masked or obfuscated text.

How Strac works:

• Scans new and existing SharePoint files
• Applies PCI redaction before users open the file
• Logs every redaction with timestamps for audits
• Supports custom PCI detection rules
• Uses OCR for images and PDFs
• Eliminates PCI across the entire document lifecycle
• Requires zero agents and deploys in minutes

Real Examples of (PCI) Credit Card Numbers Redaction in SharePoint

Example 1 — Invoice with full credit card number
Strac redacts the PAN inside the PDF instantly.

Example 2 — Screenshot of a customer’s credit card
OCR identifies the numbers and redacts them inside the image.

Example 3 — CSV export with bank account + routing numbers
Strac redacts all PCI fields but keeps column formatting intact.

Example 4 — Scanned authorization form
Strac detects handwritten and printed PCI data and redacts it.

Strac protects every PCI format across every SharePoint workflow.

Why Strac Is the Best Way to Redact (PCI) Credit Card Numbers in SharePoint

• Works across SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, Outlook, Gmail, Slack, Salesforce, Jira, Confluence, and GenAI tools
• Supports PCI, PII, PHI, bank accounts, IBANs, routing numbers, secrets, and documents
• Real-time + historical scanning
• OCR for images, screenshots, PDFs, forms
• Context-aware detection minimizes noise
• Fastest agentless deployment in the market
• Enterprise-grade audit logs and compliance reporting

🌶️Spicy FAQs on How to Redact (PCI) Credit Card Numbers in SharePoint

Does SharePoint natively redact credit card numbers?

No. SharePoint can restrict access but cannot scan or redact PCI inside files.

Can Strac redact PCI inside PDFs, scans, and images?

Yes. Strac’s OCR engine identifies PCI and redacts it automatically.

Does this help with PCI DSS compliance?

Yes. Strac supports PCI DSS requirements for data masking, storage minimization, audit logging, and redaction.

Can Strac redact PCI in synced OneDrive folders?

Yes. OneDrive sync content is included, ensuring files never leave desktops with raw PCI data.

Can Strac find PCI already stored in old SharePoint libraries?

Yes. Historical scanning is fully supported.

Try Strac for SharePoint (PCI) Credit Card Numbers Redaction & DLP

Strac helps you automatically detect, classify, and redact credit card numbers and bank account information across SharePoint files, folders, and document libraries—without slowing collaboration.