About OCR

The Skyhigh Security DLP engine extracts text from supported image files using best-in-class Optical Character Recognition (OCR). You can use policies and Classifications for  Skyhigh Security Service Edge or Skyhigh CASB to detect violations and cause an incident to be detected. OCR and Classification are available for both Skyhigh Security Service Edge or Skyhigh CASB.

OCR extends DLP protection against tax paperwork, passports, credit card information, or any other personally identifiable data that may be uploaded to the cloud or shared as images, including screenshots or handwritten formats. This technology addresses potential vulnerabilities by ensuring that confidential content is protected, even in scenarios where users are restricted from copying and pasting data.

The OCR (Optical Character Recognition) engine extracts text from images and evaluates the files based on the match rule criteria defined in the DLP policies. For example, when a credit card image is processed, the OCR engine extracts the card number and checks it against the classifications and conditions specified in the DLP policy. Similarly, if sections of a design document are encountered as images—whether as standalone images or embedded within another file—the text is extracted and compared against the established fingerprint to detect and prevent data leaks. No modifications to the DLP policies are necessary, as the existing rules, exception criteria, and response rules also apply to images.

If you purchase the OCR feature, it is enabled by default for Skyhigh Security Service Edge or Skyhigh CASB DLP policies. You can also disable the feature to avoid a slowdown. For details, see Enable OCR.