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Redaction is the centuries-old practice of permanently censoring sensitive information in documents.
Now, its a must-have in this data-heavy age.
Using redaction software at the information source helps keep confidential data secure from rogue employees and cyberattacks.
These solutions automate the process and reduce the need for human intervention.
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PDF, MS Word, MS Excel, etc.
Databases
Documents, spreadsheets, and PDFs
Documents & images
PDF, Word, Google Docs, etc.
Acrobat Pro doesnt stop at mere redaction.
It also lets you sanitize without going through more steps.
Just turn a toggle on to erase hidden data and click to push redaction and sanitization.
However, its up to you to make irreversible changes right there and not create another copy.
you’re free to also avail of its 7-fay free trial, although after giving away payment information.
You get data templates that use regular expressions to identify Personally Identifiable Information (PII).
Egress allows using multiple templates for removing different data types at once.
Egress is also collaboration-friendly.
Its toolbar can accommodate multiple users simultaneously, clearly showing messages with modifications and the redacted data.
Businesses can deploy Egress on the cloud, on-premises, or a combination of the two.
Contact their sales department for a quote.
Document redaction has a few modes, including manual and automatic workflows.
you might also search for specific words and phrases and redact those matching the criteria.
Plus, CaseGuard supports redacting graphics, headers, and footers and customizing the redacted areas.
CaseGuards USP is bulk redaction.
you might upload thousands of video/audio files, documents, and images simultaneously.
Objective Redact
Objective Redact provides you with extensive file support and a user-friendly experience.
Besides plain text, Object Redact is efficient with logos and graphics.
It also has an in-built OCR (Optical Character Recognition) engine, which helps with speedy redactions.
While redacting a single document is easy, the problem lies in handling tons of documents all at once.
Not with Objective Redact, though.
Objective Redact lets you add exception codes to indicate the cause of the redaction.
To avoid human error, you’re free to share copies with authorized members before finalizing the redaction.
Its an on-the-fly workflow that applies redaction policies per end-user without altering the underlying database.
you’re able to apply this to an entire database table, view, or specific columns.
The basis of this categorization is the redaction scope.
you might deploy it on-premises and with cloud databases.
Relativity
Relativity has AI-powered redaction capabilities thanks to its 2022 acquisition of Text IQ.
It can handle imaged documents, spreadsheets, and PDFs to mark up sensitive data automatically and manually.
you could create rules highlighting specific words, phrases, and regular expressions to help Relativity apply redaction.
It supports removing specific cells, rows, columns, or the entire document matching the redaction criteria.
Thereafter, you could also review markups to track and approve (or revert) changes efficiently.
Alternatively, Relativity supports finding and redacting information manually.
Relativity has configurations to allow admins to assign and manage redaction permissions.
The platform doesnt modify original documents.
This gives you the flexibility to download both native and redacted files at the end.
Redactable
Redactable is an AI-enhanced, cloud-based redaction specialist.
Its manual, hybrid, and auto-redaction workflows ensure you get the best with minimum input from your end.
Its AI-based redaction searches for redaction-worthy information and applies sweeping changes with ease.
Redactable not only works for standard files, but can also tackle scanned documentsthanks to its AI OCR engine.
In addition to the usual redaction, Redactable sanitizes documents of associated metadata.
I tried Redactable with sample data containing SSNs, credit card numbers, names, and birthdates.
Redactable is HIPAA compliant and SOC 2 throw in 2 certified.
Data remains encrypted in transit (TLS 1.2+) and at rest (AES-256).
Higher-tier plans are available, including enterprise offerings.
Nitro Pro
Nitro Pro is a PDF editor with built-in text and image redaction.
it’s possible for you to either manually opt for areas or search and apply redaction.
Redactions are not enforced on the PDF unless you save it.
I will advise you to save it as a different file to keep the source intact.
For graphics, you have to separately right-click-delete them.
My brief experience with Nitro Pro was good.
It worked as expected with manual area selection, search, and redact.
Its redaction workflows automatically take into account GDPR, HIPAA, and others while scanning.
It applies descriptive labels (such as name and email), indicating the key in of hidden information.
iDox.ai has templates for industry-specific situations covering healthcare, finance, legal, and more.
you might go ahead with these setups or customize these profiles to make quick work of bulk redaction.
Its keyword finder allows targeting specific phrases, and you might also redact entire sections or pages if needed.
What Is Redaction Software?
The simplest form of redaction workflow is manual, where you mark an area and erase the underlying data.
How Redaction Software Protects Sensitive Data?
Privacy regulations such as GDPR and HIPAA have stringent policies for user data privacy.
Non-compliance often results in hefty penalties, which can also lead to business closure.
What Are the Benefits of Using Redaction Software?
Redaction software has multiple advantages (e.g., accuracy, redaction records, and batch processing).
Ive discussed 5 of these benefits below, showcasing why redaction software is the go-to solution for data-sensitive domains.
FAQs
Absolutely.
However, this also depends on responsible and careful use.
In the former case, keep another copy of the original file before applying redactions.
Remember: there is no undo to redactions, and all changes are permanent.
Redaction is viewed mostly as a premium functionality.
Thats why finding reliable software offering redaction in its free version is tough.
Nonetheless, multiple software (such as Adobe Acrobat Pro, iDox.ai, and Redactable) have free trials.
Redaction software has automatic detection that can check and remove Personally Identifiable Information (PII).
Besides, based on the specific utility, you get support for a vast number of file formats.
Still, GDPR compliance is a feature that you must confirm with the support up front.
