Redaction is a critical aspect of eDiscovery and one of my favorite topics. In my previous article, I covered the basics of Redaction. In this article, I’ll discuss my favorite redaction assistant: Knovos’ auto-redaction capability.

With over a decade of experience in the eDiscovery industry, I’ve seen cases where inefficient Redaction has cost organizations significantly. At Knovos, we’ve leveraged our expertise to develop a one-of-a-kind auto-redaction capability built into our eDiscovery solutions. This capability allows eDiscovery professionals to control Redaction with simple clicks.

If I had to describe Knovos’ redaction assistant in one word, it would be flawless. It stands out for its ease of use and effectiveness. The solution is intuitive and user-friendly, making it accessible to individuals who may not be tech-savvy. This is particularly crucial in organizations where multiple people need to work with sensitive information.

Knovos Redaction Assistant is based on learnings gathered from Knovos’ 20+ years of experience fulfilling client demands and meeting their unique requirements.

Redaction Assistant offers five essential redaction options (as seen in the above image) with unique features to customize each Redaction based on specific needs:

Search and Redact

The Search and Redact option allows users to create search term lists that must be redacted from the selected folder. After ensuring all the required terms are added to the search list, the user can run the redaction. Knovos redaction assistant will search, find and redact all the terms in the selected set of documents. This feature can save time and effort when redacting multiple documents. To use this option, users need to enter the redaction label text in the designated box and specify the search terms in the Search Terms column. Additionally, users can exclude specific terms from the redaction process by entering them in the Exclusions section. This way, users can ensure that certain information remains unredacted in the Document while the rest is protected.

Redact Hit Words

The “Redact Hit Words” option allows users to redact a peculiar list of keywords. When a user wants to run redaction on already searched terms without repeating the entire search process. They can select the saved searches and apply “Redact Hit Words”; Once applied, the redaction assistance will automatically locate and redact all instances of the sensitive keywords searched and saved earlier. “Redact Hit Words” is a great feature when users want to save processing time and effort. Furthermore, this option ensures that the Redaction is consistently applied throughout the document or file, reducing the risk of missing sensitive information.

Redact PII

The Redact PII option enables users to redact Personally Identifiable Information (PII) in their documents. Users can select the PII type they wish to redact by clicking the drop-down arrow. To customize the Redaction, users can enter the desired Redaction Label Text, which is the text that will appear over the redacted information. Users can also specify terms for Redaction or exclusion by selecting the Specify Redaction or Specify Exclusion button and entering the relevant terms. Users have the option to import terms from a file or dictionary or clear all the terms. It is important to note that any changes made to the Default label text under the General tab will reflect in the Redaction Label Text box, not vice versa. The Specify Redaction button is selected by default, but users can change it to Specify Exclusion as needed.

Copy Redaction

The Copy Redaction option enables users to copy the redactions applied to a master document in the source folder to other documents in the same folder. Users can select the Master DocID Redaction Layer and Master DocID Redaction Label from the master document’s redaction layer and label, respectively, that they wish to copy. Additionally, users need to enter the Master DocID, the ID of the master document whose redactions they want to copy. This feature can be helpful when multiple documents contain similar content, and users want to apply the same redactions to all of them.

Copy Redaction to Exact Duplicates

The Copy Redactions to Exact Duplicate option allows users to copy redactions from documents in a search folder to exact duplicate documents in a destination folder. Users can select the Master DocID Redaction Layer and Master DocID Redaction Label that they wish to copy from the master document’s redaction layer and label by clicking the corresponding drop-down arrows. Users also need to select the Master DocID(s) Search Folder from which the master document ID’s documents will be the source to find exact duplicate documents. This feature is handy when users have multiple duplicate documents and want to apply the same redactions to them without manually repeating the process. It saves time and reduces the chances of missing any redactions.

In addition, Redaction Assistant allows users to create custom layers and labels depending on the Redaction. You can perform mass redactions and copy redactions on millions of files without manually selecting a single redaction at a time. Lastly, The Redaction Assistant provides several results to understand the redaction process’s accuracy. These results include:

• Total Documents for Redaction: The total number of documents that require Redaction.

• Total Redaction(s) Applied on Excel: The number of redactions applied to Excel documents.

• Document(s) for Non-Excel Redactions: The number of documents that require Redaction other than Excel files.

• Document(s) Completed: Documents where all redactions have been applied accurately.

• Document(s) Partially Completed: Documents where some redactions have been applied accurately, but not all.

• Document(s) Pending: Documents that have not started the evaluation for Redaction yet.

• Document(s) not Qualified: Documents that do not require any redaction.

Understanding these results helps identify any issues that need to be verified before finalizing the redaction process.

I’ve found Knovos Redaction technology to be a value-added feature in my work. I often handle confidential documents containing sensitive information such as social security numbers, financial data, and PII. Being able to redact this information quickly and easily is critical to maintaining document confidentiality and ensuring that only authorized personnel view the information.

One remarkable example of the benefits of Knovos’ redaction technology was when I assisted two pharmaceutical companies involved in litigation. They achieved more streamlined and efficient review processes by utilizing the Knovos capabilities to redact many Excel files within Review and perform inverse redactions. This unique instance saved thousands of dollars on manual Redaction and helped meet the deadline on time. Knovos Redaction Assistant maintained document confidentiality and ensured appropriate Redaction throughout the data.

In conclusion, Knovos Redaction technology is a powerful capability that can help organizations with data privacy regulations. Its ease of use, speed, and effectiveness make it a valuable investment for any organization that handles sensitive information regularly.

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