Global Filters

Global Filters allow you to set up filters to automatically exclude or ignore matches based on the set filter rules.

You can add this by adding a filter from the Scans > Global Filters page or through Remediation by marking matches as False Positive or Test Data when remediating matches.

• View Global Filters
• Add a Global Filter
• Import and Export Filters
• Filter Columns in Databases

Permissions

• Global Admin users have full access to all actions for Global Filters.
• System Managers can import or export Global Filters.
• System Managers can add Global Filters that apply to all Targets / Target Groups, or add Global Filters that apply only to Targets / Target Groups to which they have visibility to.

See User Permissions for more information.

View Global Filters

The Global Filters page displays a list of filters and the Targets they apply to. Filters created by marking exclusions when taking remedial action will also be displayed here (see Remediation).

Filter the filters displayed using the options in the Filter by… section:

• False Positives > Locations: Locations marked as False Positives.
• False Positives > Matches: Match data marked as False Positives.
• Test Data > Matches: Match data marked as test data.

Add a Global Filter

To add a global filter:

1. Log into the ER2 Web Console.
2. Go to the Scans > Global Filters page.
3. On the top-right corner of the Global Filters page, click +Add.
4. From the drop-down list, select a Filter Type:

   Filter Type	Description
   Exclude location by prefix	Exclude search locations with paths that begin with a given string. Can be used to exclude entire directory trees. Example Filter value: C:\Windows\System32 Excludes all files and folders in the "C:\Windows\System32" folder.
   Exclude location by suffix	Exclude search locations with paths that end with a given string. Example Filter value: led.jnl Excludes all files and folders that end with "led.jnl", e.g. "canceled.jnl" and "totaled.jnl".
   Exclude locations by expression	Exclude search locations that match the given expression. The syntax the of the expressions you can use are as follows: ?: A wildcard character that matches exactly one character; ??? matches 3 characters. *: A wildcard character that matches zero or more characters in a search string. Example 1 Filter value: C:\V??? All locations where the path starts with "C:\V" followed by any three characters will be excluded during scans. For example, the expressions will exclude "C:\V123", but does not exclude "C:\V1" or "C:\V1234". Example 2 Filter value: /var/* All locations in the "/var" directory will be excluded during scans. Example 3 Filter value: /var/*.txt All text files with the ".txt" extension in the "/var" directory will be excluded during scans.
   	You can inverse this filter with a logical NOT operation to only include search locations that match the given expression. !<expression> Example 1 Filter value: !*.pdf Only locations with the ".pdf" suffix will be included during scans. Example 2 Filter value: !C:\Users\* Only locations where the path starts with "C:\Users\" will be included during scans.
   Include locations within modification date	Include search locations modified within a given range of dates. Prompts you to select a start date and an end date. Files and folders that fall outside of the range set by the selected start and end date are not scanned.
   Include locations modified recently	Include search locations modified within a given number of days from the current date. Example Filter value: 14 Only scan files and folders that have been modified not more than 14 days before the current date.
   Exclude locations greater than file size (MB)	Exclude files that are larger than a given file size (in MB).
   Ignore exact match	Ignore matches that match a given string exactly. Example Filter value: 4419123456781234 All exact matches of the pattern "4419123456781234" will be ignored as matches during scans.
   Ignore match by prefix	Ignore matches that begin with a given string. Example Filter value: 4419 Search ignores matches found during scans that begin with "4419", such as "4419123456781234".
   Ignore match by expression	Ignore matches found during scans if they match a given expression. ?: A wildcard character that matches exactly one character; ??? matches 3 characters. *: A wildcard character that matches zero or more characters in a search string. Example 1 Filter value: *123 All data patterns that end with "123" will be ignored as matches during scans. Example 2 Filter value: 123* All data patterns that begin with "123" will be ignored as matches during scans. PCRE To enter a Perl Compatible Regular Expression (PCRE), select Enable full regular expressions support.
   Add test data	Report match as test data if it matches a given string exactly. Example Filter value: 4419123456781234 All exact matches of "4419123456781234" found during scans will be reported as test data.
   Add test data prefix	Report matches that begin with a given string as test data. Example Filter value: 4419 Report matches that begin with "4419" as test data, such as "4419123456781234".
   Add test data expression	Report matches as test data if they match a given expression. The syntax the of the expressions you can use: ?: A wildcard character that matches exactly one character; ??? matches 3 characters. *: A wildcard character that matches zero or more characters in a search string. Example 1 Filter value: *123 All data patterns that end with "123" found during scans will be reported as test data. Example 2 Filter value: 123* All data patterns that begin with "123" found during scans will be reported as test data.

5. (From ER 2.0.18) In Apply to, select the Target Group and Target the filter applies to.
   
6. Click Ok.

Import and Export Filters

Importing and exporting filters allows you to move filters from one ER2 installation to another. This is also useful if you are upgrading from Data Recon, Card Recon, or are moving from an older installation of ER2.

You can import from or export to the following file formats:

• Portable XML file.
• Spreadsheet (CSV).
• Test File.
• Card Recon Configuration File.

Portable XML File

This section shows how filters are described in XML files.

These XML files follow the following basic rules:

• XML tags are case sensitive.
• Each tag must include the closing tag. For example, <filter>...</filter>.

• The following ASCII characters have a special meaning in XML and have to be replaced by their corresponding XML character entity reference:

  ASCII Character	Description	XML Character Entity Reference
  <	Less-than sign	&lt;
  >	More-than sign	&gt;
  &	Ampersand	&amp;
  '	Apostrophe	&apos;
  "	Double quotation mark	&quot;

  The XML representation of "<User's Email & Login Name>" is written as &quot;&lt;User&apos;s Email &amp; Login Name&gt;&quot;.

The following tags are used in the XML file for global filters:

Filter Types

Example

<filter> <!-- These filters apply to all Targets --> <global> <location-exclude>*.gzip</location-exclude> <location-exclude>*FOOBAR*</location-exclude> <match-test>*@example.com</match-test> <modified-maxsize>2048</modified-maxsize> </global> <!-- These filters apply only to the Group My-Default-Group --> <target> <name>My-Default-Group</name> <modified-between>2018-1-1 - 2018-1-15</modified-between> </target> <!-- These filters apply only to the Target host My-Windows-Machine --> <target> <name>My-Windows-Machine</name> <match-exclude>1234567890</match-exclude> <modified-within>3</modified-within> </target>
</filter>

Filter Columns in Databases

Filter out columns in databases by using the "Exclude location by suffix" filter to specify the columns or tables to exclude from the scan.

Database Index or Primary Keys

Certain tables or columns, such as a database index or primary key, cannot be excluded from a scan. If a filter applied to the scan excludes these tables or columns, the scan will ignore the filter.