PII Detection & Redaction, without uploading a thing

As confidentiality-bound professionals, protecting sensitive information is an ongoing challenge. In today's digital landscape, the need for robust data protection has never been more pressing. However, many redaction solutions rely on uploading the very document you're trying to protect - a requirement that can feel counterintuitive and even invasive. The notion of "uploading" a file can be daunting, especially when dealing with sensitive information. This is where Secretary Bird, a cutting-edge browser extension, comes into play.

With Secretary Bird, you can redact PDFs locally, without ever transmitting the original document. Our innovative approach empowers you to review each detected hit in context, before exporting a clean copy of the redacted document. This means that your sensitive information is never sent outside of your device, ensuring that confidentiality remains intact. By harnessing the power of local analysis and processing, Secretary Bird streamlines the redaction process, making it faster, more efficient, and - most importantly - entirely secure.

How PII Detection & Redaction works

When Secretary Bird analyzes a document, it breaks down the text into individual words or phrases. This allows the software to identify specific patterns and structures commonly used in sensitive information, such as email addresses, phone numbers, or Social Security numbers. Using advanced algorithms, Secretary Bird can detect when these patterns are being used in context, indicating the presence of personally identifiable information (PII). The deterministic nature of this process ensures that results cannot be based on any external knowledge, eliminating the risk of "hallucination" or false positives.

Once PII has been detected, Secretary Bird's redaction capabilities can be applied. This involves marking the identified sensitive information with a placeholder, allowing users to control what is revealed in their final output. Users can select from several options, including one-click export of the fully redacted document, or use a custom dictionary to specify specific words or phrases that should always be redacted. For an additional layer of security, AI-driven semantic analysis (available in Secretary Bird Pro) can also identify and remove sensitive information that may not be immediately apparent, such as credit card numbers or API keys. Regardless of the chosen level of redaction, results are linked back to the exact source passage, ensuring transparency and accuracy.

How to use it

1. Drop a PDF or DOCX
2. Open the PII tab to see every hit in context
3. Add client names to the always-redact list
4. Export the redacted copy

How it compares

Some online tools handle scanned-image redaction and court-filing metadata scrubbing that a text-layer redactor doesn't. Where Secretary Bird differs is the architecture: redact without uploading the un-redacted file first. The document is never uploaded, so using it doesn't hand your client's data to a third party.

Related reading

Secretary Bird is a triage and extraction assistant, not legal advice โ€” you make the call. Built by hakeemify.