Educause Security Discussion: Re: Identity Finder

[Gary Dobbins <dobbins () ND EDU>]

Great product.  Very configurable.  Has had a few bugs (e.g. at one point couldn't detect SSN in an Excel sheet if it 
was formatted *as* SSN-type) but they fixed it.  Note that it by default limits the size of files it will scan, for 
performance reasons.  Be sure you check all settings and are aware of what it won't be looking into.
But for the routine cases, it's very usable and effective.

From: The EDUCAUSE Security Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU] On Behalf Of Todd 
Britton
Sent: Thursday, December 17, 2009 4:18 PM
To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU
Subject: Re: [SECURITY] Identity Finder

                I am in the process of starting a project with Identity Finder Enterprise version here at the 
University of La Verne. I am installing the Windows server and running use cases to determine our best course to roll 
this out. Please contact me with specific questions or to query on my progress. Good luck and Happy Holidays!

Todd Britton, PMP, MCSE, CGEIT
Director of Enterprise Application Services
Information Security Officer
OIT Project Manager
University of La Verne
909-593-3511 x4234
tbritton () laverne edu

From: The EDUCAUSE Security Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU] On Behalf Of Richard 
A MacLaughlin
Sent: Thursday, December 17, 2009 1:00 PM
To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU
Subject: [SECURITY] Identity Finder

I am looking into products (or free utilities) that can scan for SSNs, credit card information, and anything else that 
would be considered sensitive.  Currently, we use Cornell Spider, but I'm looking for something more powerful and 
consistent.  It has been mentioned to me before to look into Identity Finder as a  potential solution and it looks 
promising, but I was wondering if any of you had any hands-on experience with Identity Finder or if you could recommend 
a better or different product?

I've contacted their sales department to give me some more information about specific questions I have, but I'll 
reiterate one question here in case any of you have hands-on experience.  It seems like the product is primarily geared 
toward Windows environments, so I'm wondering how successful (if at all) it is at finding any true positives when 
scanning file extensions that aren't native to Windows.  Of course, I'll reiterate that I'm definitely open-minded to 
other solutions beside Identity Finder if there is something better.

Thanks,

Richard A. MacLaughlin
Information Security
Valdosta State University
Phone:  (229) 333-5974