Windows Spirion End User Documentation

SCANNING

Scheduled Scan

When a scheduled scan initiates, the Spirion icon  appears in the Windows System Tray and a taskbar notification will appear above it. Spirion is minimized during the scan. At any time, Spirion can be maximized by clicking the icon in the System Tray. When the scan is completed, another taskbar notification will appear.

  

A search summary appears when the scan is complete (Figure 3). The summary contains options for you to decide to start remediating now or later. Click the Advanced button to view the scan results and begin remediation. If you are currently too busy, click the Reminder button and choose a time during the day to remediate your scan results.

Status Window

While a scan is running, you will be able to see a status window to track it's progress.

Predefined Settings

The Information Security Office controls the end user settings through policies on the server. Default settings are highlighted in the Spirion application. Spirion has five ribbons of settings: Main, Data Types, Locations, Configuration, and Tools.

  • The Main ribbon includes the start, stop, and pause functions, as well as filtering, status, and remediation actions. The status window will display by default in an On-Demand scan, but must be clicked for a Scheduled scan.
  • The Data Types ribbon includes the types of identity information being searched. Private Information Management at RIT is focusing on locating Social Security Numbers, Credit Card Numbers, Bank Account information, and Driver’s license numbers.
  • The Locations ribbon includes where Spirion will search for identity information. The current settings scan My Computer including removable media, Outlook E-mail and Attachments, Web Browser data, and the Registry, on your machine. Spirion scans all types of files including compressed files such as zip.
  • The Configuration ribbon includes the User Guide links to Spirion's online help page. Additional items on this page will not be used in this program.
  • The Tools ribbon contains additional methods of securing information, but they are out of scope for the Private Information Management at RIT Program.

On-Demand Scan

To run a scan manually, open Spirion from the desktop icon or Start Menu. Before pressing the start button to initiate the scan you may wish to review the predefined settings. Once pressing the start button, Spirion will only scan directories and files you have access to. The status window will appear and can be minimized by clicking the Status Window button on the Main ribbon in Spirion.

Custom On-Demand Scan

Additionally, there is an option if you want to scan a specific folder or file without searching the entire machine for Private Information. Right-click on the file or folder you want to scan. In the menu you should see an Spirion menu with the Spirion icon. Expand the menu and click the search option. The Spirion application will launch and begin to scan just as an On-Demand scan.

REMEDIATION

After a scan, you must take action on the results. The identity matches are masked to prevent Private Information from being displayed by Spirion

  • In order to review the PI within the file, right-click a location and select Launch to open the file or Open File Location to open the directory in which the file is located.

User Decision Making Flow Chart

Use the decision making flowchart located here to determine the appropriate remediation action.

Actions

Performing an action on PI will remove the row from Spirion. In Spirion you can ignore, shred, or scrub a file containing PI. Additionally, you can save a report in Spirion to discuss with your Private Information Management business representative.

  • The Shred action securely deletes the file containing PI from the local machine. Files and folders can also be shredded without Spirion being open.
    • The file is unrecoverable after this action is performed!
  • The Redact action replaces the PI with X's. 
    • The following text file types can be scrubbed:
      • 1st; asm; asp; aspx; bat; btm; c; cc; cmd; cpp; cs; css; cxx; def; dic; h; hpp; hxx; idl; idq; inc; inf; ini; inx; java; js; jsl; log; me; pl; rc; reg; rels; snippet; text; txt; url; vbs; wtx; xml; xsl
      • Microsoft Office file formats
    • The PI is unrecoverable after this action is performed!
  • The Ignore action flags the file or identity match as a flase positive. This action must be verified as a false positive by the Information Security Office before it is actually excluded.
    • This Item Location ignore all PI matches found by Spirion in the file location.
    • This Identity Match ignores all instances of the specific PI match on your computer. 

Saving Reports

The scan results may contain files you are unsure how to remediate or need to keep for a business reason. These additional items remaining from the scan must be reported to your Private Information Management technical and/or business representative to determine the reason for keeping the information and how to properly remediate it. Relocating the information to a secure server is a possible solution.

  • Note: Reports should be saved as Spirion_[username]_[date].html.

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