How to Use BlackArmor Discovery Software for Data Discovery and Classification

Top 7 Tips for Getting the Most Out of BlackArmor Discovery SoftwareBlackArmor Discovery Software is designed to help organizations find, classify, and manage sensitive data across networks, endpoints, and cloud repositories. To get the most value from the platform, focus on thoughtful planning, configuration, and ongoing maintenance. Below are seven practical, high-impact tips that will improve discovery accuracy, reduce false positives, and make the results more actionable for security, compliance, and governance teams.

1. Define clear discovery objectives and scope

Before running scans, decide what you need to find and why.

• Identify business drivers (compliance, breach risk reduction, data migration, e-discovery).
• Prioritize data types (PII, PCI, PHI, intellectual property) and repositories (file servers, endpoints, SharePoint, cloud storage).
• Set realistic scope boundaries: start with high-risk areas first, then expand.
• Create success metrics (number of sensitive files found, reduction in exposed open shares, reduction in false positives).

Being specific upfront reduces noise and helps you iterate faster.

2. Customize and tune detection rules

BlackArmor provides built-in patterns and classifiers, but tuning them greatly improves precision.

• Review and adapt default regular expressions and keyword lists to your environment and languages.
• Add context-aware rules that combine multiple signals (file path, extension, surrounding text).
• Use exclusion rules for known non-sensitive file types, internal test directories, or recurring benign patterns.
• Test rule changes on a representative dataset before rolling out broadly.

Small rule adjustments often cut false positives dramatically and boost analyst confidence.

3. Use a phased deployment approach

Don’t scan everything at once — reduce operational impact and improve results quality with phased rollout.

• Phase 1: Pilot in a controlled environment (one department or subset of file servers).
• Phase 2: Expand to high-risk areas (HR, finance, legal) and cloud services.
• Phase 3: Full enterprise roll-out, scheduled scans, and continuous discovery.
• Monitor resource utilization and adjust scheduling to avoid performance hits.

Phased deployment helps you validate rules, user notifications, and remediation workflows.

4. Integrate with existing security and IT workflows

Discovery is most valuable when it triggers meaningful action.

• Connect BlackArmor to ticketing systems (Jira, ServiceNow) to automate remediation tasks.
• Integrate with DLP, CASB, SIEM, or IAM systems so discovered risks are visible in your security ecosystem.
• Use role-based access control (RBAC) so teams only see relevant discovery results.
• Automate notifications to data owners and compliance officers with clear, actionable context.

Seamless integration shortens time-to-remediation and reduces manual overhead.

5. Prioritize and contextualize findings

Not all discovered sensitive items have equal risk. Add context to make remediation efficient.

• Assign risk scores based on sensitivity type, file exposure (public share, external access), and user activity.
• Group related findings (same file duplicates, same user account exposures) to avoid duplicate work.
• Provide file metadata (owner, last modified, access control lists) and sample content snippets in reports.
• Create dashboards and scheduled reports for executives, compliance, and technical remediation teams.

Context transforms raw discovery outputs into prioritized, actionable tasks.

6. Implement recurring scans and continuous discovery

Data environments change constantly; one-off scans become stale quickly.

• Schedule regular full or incremental scans for high-turnover repositories (cloud storage, shared drives).
• Use lightweight, near-real-time discovery agents for endpoints or cloud connectors where available.
• Maintain a historical record of discoveries to track remediation progress and recurring issues.
• Re-evaluate and update detection rules periodically as business processes and data formats evolve.

Continuous discovery ensures new risks are caught quickly and trend analysis is possible.

7. Build remediation playbooks and train stakeholders

Discovery without remediation delivers limited value. Create clear, repeatable processes.

• Develop playbooks for common findings (exposed PII, open external shares, backup of sensitive data).
• Define roles and escalation paths: who investigates, who remediates, and who verifies closure.
• Train data owners, IT, and security teams on interpreting discovery results and following playbooks.
• Run periodic tabletop exercises to validate the effectiveness of your processes.

Well-prepared teams close the loop faster and reduce the window of exposure.

Conclusion

Implementing BlackArmor Discovery Software effectively combines strategic planning, careful tuning, phased rollout, integrations, continuous monitoring, and clear remediation practices. Focus on reducing false positives through customized rules, prioritizing findings with context, and automating workflows to convert discovery into fast, measurable risk reduction. These seven tips will help you get the most out of your investment and strengthen your data protection posture.