Ignoring Terms

Describes how Philter can be set to ignore specific terms.

Philter can optionally ignore a list of terms and prevent those terms from being filtered. For example, if the name "John Smith" is being redacted and you do not want it to be redacted, you can add "John Smith" to an ignore list. Each time Philter identifies sensitive information it will check the ignore lists to see if the sensitive information is to be ignored.
To ignore terms based on patterns see Ignoring Patterns.
Ignore Lists
Ignore lists can be specified at the filter profile level and/or at the level of each type of filter. When set at the filter profile level, the list of ignored terms will be applied to all filter types. When set for an individual filter, the list of ignored terms will be applied only to that filter.
Ignore List at the Filter Profile (Global) Level
In the filter profile shown below, an ignore list is set at the level of the filter profile. The terms specified in the list will be ignored for all filter types enabled in the filter profile. Only the terms property is required. The name and caseSensitive properties are optional.
{
   "name": "example-filter-profile",
   "ignored": [
     {
       "name": "names to ignore",
       "terms": ["john smith", "jane doe"],
       "caseSensitive": false
     }
   ],
   "identifiers": {
      "emailAddress": {
         "emailAddressFilterStrategies": [
            {
               "strategy": "REDACT",
               "redactionFormat": "{{{REDACTED-%t}}}"
            }
         ]
      }
   }
}
Terms to be ignored at the filter profile level can also be read from one or more files located on the local file system. The file must be formatted as one term per line.
{
   "name": "example-filter-profile",
   "ignored": [
     {
       "name": "names to ignore",
       "terms": ["john smith", "jane doe"],
       "files": ["/tmp/names.txt"]
       "caseSensitive": false
     }
   ],   
   "identifiers": {
      "emailAddress": {
         "emailAddressFilterStrategies": [
            {
               "strategy": "REDACT",
               "redactionFormat": "{{{REDACTED-%t}}}"
            }
         ]
      }
   }
}
Ignore List at an Individual Filter Level
In the filter profile shown below, an ignore list is set at the level of a filter. The terms specified in the list will be ignored only for that filter type. Each filter in a filter profile can have its own list of ignored terms. The terms listed will be ignored case-sensitive, meaning, "John" will be ignored if "John" is an ignored term but will not be ignored if "john" is an ignored term.
{
   "name": "example-filter-profile",
   "identifiers": {
      "emailAddress": {
         "ignored": ["john smith", "jane doe"],
         "emailAddressFilterStrategies": [
            {
               "strategy": "REDACT",
               "redactionFormat": "{{{REDACTED-%t}}}"
            }
         ]
      }
   }
}

Filter Strategies

Ignoring Patterns

Last modified 4mo ago