Oracle Data Discovery

Discovery Sensitive Data in Oracle Databases

Table of Contents

Enterprises relying on Oracle databases—whether on-premises or cloud-hosted—manage some of the most sensitive data in their organizations: customer account numbers, phone numbers, financial records, and personally identifiable information (PII). Without proper visibility, this sensitive data can remain hidden in tables, schemas, or even legacy applications, exposing the business to compliance risks and data leaks.

This is where Oracle Data Discovery comes in. By scanning and classifying sensitive data inside Oracle databases, organizations can gain a clear picture of where their risks are, who has access, and what remediation steps are needed.

✨Why Oracle Data Discovery Matters

Many organizations using Oracle databases face the following challenges:

Data Sprawl: Sensitive data spreads across multiple schemas, tables, and applications like Siebel or ERP add-ons.
Hidden PII/PHI: Without automated scans, it’s difficult to know which columns contain regulated data (e.g., phone numbers, account numbers).
Compliance Pressure: Regulations such as PCI-DSS, HIPAA, and GDPR require continuous visibility into sensitive data.
Audit Readiness: Businesses must demonstrate where sensitive data is located, how it is secured, and who has access.

Oracle Data Discovery: Showcasing all sensitive data risks

With Oracle Data Discovery, these challenges become manageable through automated classification and risk visualization.

✨Key Features of Oracle Data Discovery

1. Risks by Table, Schema, and Database

The platform provides a table-level breakdown of risks, showing exactly which Oracle tables contain sensitive data.

Oracle Data Discovery: Risks by Table, Schema and Database

This allows security and compliance teams to prioritize remediation efforts on the most critical tables instead of scanning blindly across entire databases.

2. Rich Context: Account, Region, and Data Type

Discovery isn’t just about finding data—it’s about context. Each finding links back to the Oracle account, database, schema, and table, along with the data type (e.g., PHONE, ACCOUNT_NUMBER) and the count of sensitive values discovered.

This context ensures your teams know where the risk is and how large the exposure may be.

3. Sensitive Data Samples with Masking

To validate findings without exposing more data, the platform shows masked data samples.

Oracle Data Discovery: See Sample Values

For example, a column like PHONENO classified as PHONE will display sample values in a masked format (e.g., 9********9). This gives confidence in classification accuracy while maintaining privacy.

4. Real-Time and Historical Scanning

Oracle Data Discovery supports both point-in-time scans and continuous monitoring. This ensures that when new data enters Oracle databases—through application updates, customer transactions, or ETL jobs—it is immediately flagged and classified.

5. Unified Dashboard for Oracle DSPM

All risks can be viewed and filtered by data type, database, schema, table, account, or region. This flexibility makes it easy to report to auditors, share with compliance teams, or export findings for remediation workflows.

Use Cases for Oracle Data Discovery

PCI-DSS Compliance: Detect and classify account numbers in Oracle databases to ensure proper encryption and masking controls.
HIPAA Safeguards: Identify and protect patient contact information stored in Siebel or Oracle Healthcare modules.
Cloud Migration Readiness: Before moving Oracle workloads to the cloud, gain full visibility into sensitive data locations.
Audit Reporting: Provide auditors with clear, evidence-backed reports showing where sensitive data resides.
Insider Risk Mitigation: Monitor whether sensitive data is being stored in ad-hoc tables (e.g., CX_ADHOC_SMS) outside standard processes.

Final Thoughts

Oracle Data Discovery isn’t just about compliance—it’s about empowering organizations to take control of their most sensitive information. By providing deep visibility into Oracle databases, organizations can reduce risk, improve audit readiness, and ensure that sensitive data is always protected.

With features like risk dashboards, masked data samples, and schema-level visibility, security teams can now answer critical questions with confidence:

Where is sensitive data stored in Oracle?
Who has access to it?
How much of it exists?
What remediation actions should we take?

If you’re using Oracle as part of your enterprise stack, it’s time to shine a light on hidden risks with Oracle Data Discovery.

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Sharepoint DLP Use Cases

Practical Scenario

A hospital’s billing and administrative teams use SharePoint Online to store patient invoices, medical reports, and insurance forms. While collaborating with external insurance providers, a staff member accidentally updates the permissions on a SharePoint document library to “Anyone with the link,” exposing potentially thousands of patient files containing PHI.

How Strac's Sharepoint DLP Helps

Continuous Data Discovery: Strac automatically scans existing and newly uploaded documents, identifying PHI (e.g., medical record numbers, Social Security Numbers).
Classification & Labeling: Once identified, files are labeled (e.g., “HIPAA Sensitive”), ensuring that administrators know which documents require the highest level of protection.
Visibility into Access: Strac provides real-time insight into who has access to these sensitive documents. Administrators can instantly see if unauthorized users or broad groups have viewing rights.
Revoke Public Links: If a file is publicly accessible, Strac immediately revokes those links and restores restricted access.
Alerts & Quarantines: When someone attempts to share PHI externally, Strac can alert admins, quarantine the file for review, or completely block the action.
Audit-Ready Reports: All actions are logged, enabling quick incident response and demonstrating HIPAA compliance for audits.

Practical Scenario

A mid-sized investment firm uses SharePoint to collaborate on various client files, including:

Credit card statements (subject to PCI-DSS)
ID documents (Driver’s Licenses, Passports, etc.) used for KYC (Know Your Customer) verification
Banking information such as account and routing numbers

An associate accidentally shares a SharePoint folder containing these files with a newly onboarded client who does not require access to all confidential documents. This folder is also accessible to several internal teams outside the immediate project, creating multiple potential exposure points.

How Strac's Sharepoint DLP Helps

Comprehensive Data Discovery: Strac scans both existing and newly uploaded documents in SharePoint for sensitive information such as credit card numbers, bank account details, and ID documents (Driver’s License, Passport formats).
Classification & Automated Labeling: Once identified, Strac applies meaningful labels (e.g., “PCI-DSS Sensitive,” “PII – ID Documents,” “Banking Info”) to ensure these files stand out and are subject to stricter security rules.
Visibility into Access: Strac provides an immediate view of who currently has access to these sensitive files. This allows admins to spot situations where external clients or internal teams unnecessarily have permissions.
Public Access Revocation: If a labeled document (e.g., containing card data or ID scans) is found to be publicly shared or too broadly accessible, Strac automatically revokes these links or permissions, aligning access with the principle of least privilege.
Alerts, Quarantines, and Blocks: When a user attempts to share a labeled document with outside domains—or with an entire department—Strac alerts administrators or quarantines/blocks the file share, depending on policy settings.
In cases where the share is intentional but needs review, admins can approve or deny the request within Strac’s dashboard.
Audit & Compliance: Every sharing event, label assignment, and access revocation is logged, creating a detailed audit trail. This helps demonstrate compliance with PCI-DSS, KYC, AML, and other regulatory requirements.
Automatic reporting simplifies any regulatory or internal compliance audit, reducing the administrative burden on security and compliance teams.

Practical Scenario

A software company keeps source code, product roadmaps, and design specs in SharePoint. Several teams—including external contractors—use the same SharePoint site. A developer accidentally grants a large group, including some non-disclosure–exempt contractors, access to a folder containing patent-pending code.

How Strac's Sharepoint DLP Helps

Holistic File Scanning: Strac inspects documents, PDFs, and archives for code snippets, system designs, and proprietary business terms to detect potential IP.
Intelligent Labeling: Documents identified as containing IP or trade secrets are automatically classified (e.g., “Proprietary IP”), reinforcing the need for restricted sharing.
Real-Time Access Insights: With Strac, administrators can instantly see who has access to IP-tagged files, enabling them to remove unauthorized users or reduce permission scopes.
Immediate Link Removal: If a contractor or external partner is mistakenly granted access to IP, Strac revokes public or unauthorized sharing before the files can be downloaded.
Alerts & Blocking: Strac’s policies can be configured to alert security teams or block external sharing attempts for files containing proprietary content.
Incident Response & Auditing: Detailed logs of every share request, label change, and access revocation aid in quick incident resolution and help prove due diligence if legal issues arise.