Searching SharePoint websites for data

Data search functionality lets you scan files on SharePoint sites for data belonging to specific categories.

You can use data search to perform the following operations:

Detect all SharePoint sites that currently store files containing data that belongs to specific categories.
Scan selected SharePoint sites for files containing data that belongs to specific categories. For example, you can receive information on files with employees' financial or personal data that are stored in improper locations.
Use data categories to search SharePoint sites for specific files. For example, you can detect a file if its name and format are unknown but you know what type of data it may contain and on which SharePoint website it may be stored.

During data search, the load on SharePoint servers increases. To maintain a balanced load, the administrator can limit the list of SharePoint servers on which data search is available. If the Status column next to a running task displays the No servers available message, contact the administrator for a permission to run the task. The administrator modifies the DLP Module settings.

Managing search tasks

The SharePoint site data search function is implemented in the form of search tasks.

You can configure the following settings for each task:

Scan type (full or incremental)
Data categories according to which the search is performed
SharePoint sites on which the search is performed
Task run mode and schedule
Application actions on detecting files that match the search conditions
On detecting files, the application can create incidents and log event information in Windows Event Viewer.

You can add several search tasks to scan various SharePoint servers for files containing data that belongs to various categories. You can edit search task settings, if necessary.

If data categories selected for running the search are modified while the search task is in progress (for example, certain keywords are removed or new table data is added), the application continues to search for files according to the modified data categories. The application does not re-scan the files that have been found.

The application searches for data in background mode. Regardless of the task run schedule, you can manually start or stop a search task at any time.

The application does not scan system files during a search task.

The progress of the search task is displayed in the form of a progress bar. The progress bar shows the percentage ratio of files that have been scanned against the total number of files on the selected SharePoint servers.

Data search optimization

During repeated runs of a task, the application can perform an incremental scan, i.e. scan only files that have been modified since the previous task run. Incremental scanning allows minimizing the task runtime and reducing the workload on the SharePoint server. You can enable incremental scanning in the task settings. If incremental scanning is disabled, the application scans all files that meet the search criteria.

Processing search results

The application generates a report on search results after the task is completed.

Each report contains a table with a list of files matching the search parameters. The report name is created automatically and matches the name of the task based on which it has been generated.

If necessary, you can save the report to view search results without opening Management Console.

Search results make it possible to analyze the current status of data protection on SharePoint and edit policy settings, if necessary.