eCommerce businesses deal with massive amounts of data, including sensitive data that needs to be protected. Data scanning allows businesses to wade through sensitive data, such as digital assets, personally identifiable information (PII), electronic health records, and more. With the right data scanning tools, eCommerce businesses can protect the security of their data, customers' information, and overall operations. » New to data privacy? Explore this guide to eCommerce data privacy↗
What Is Sensitive Data?
Sensitive data↗ is private information that must be kept secure and away from unauthorized access. If not, consequences can include financial loss, damaged reputations, diminished competitive advantage, and compromised security and privacy. Sensitive data encompasses a wide range of information types and includes both original and copied versions. This category of data typically contains the following:
- Protected health information under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996↗ (HIPAA)
- Education records under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974↗ (FERPA)
- Financial customer information under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act↗ (GLB)
- Cardholder data under the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard↗ (PCI DSS)
- Confidential personnel information under the State Personnel Act↗
- Confidential information under the North Carolina Public Records Act↗
- Sensitive personal data under the EU General Data Protection Regulation↗ (GDPR)
How Does Sensitive Data Affect eCommerce?
In the digital age, sensitive data risks being exposed in many ways. Hackers can access systems and databases using various techniques, including phishing scams, malware infections, and other vulnerabilities. Once they have access, they can steal or modify customer information, causing serious damage to an eCommerce business. Sensitive data scanning is a critical component of risk management in eCommerce. By identifying and protecting sensitive data, businesses can reduce the chances of data breaches↗ or other security incidents. Additionally, they can ensure compliance with industry standards, CCPA↗, HIPAA, or GDPR and help safeguard customer trust and confidence. » Worried about your store's data security? Address these essential eCommerce data privacy issues↗
5 Useful Sensitive Data Scanning Tools
Sensitive data discovery tools help you find unknown sources of sensitive data within your organization and assess the associated risk levels. Here are some sensitive data scanning tools you can use to protect your data and ensure compliance:
1. PieEye Data Scanner↗
PieEye is a privacy compliance management tool utilized by some of the world's most innovative companies. PieEye's data scanner allows you to scan, discover, index, and organize all types of sensitive data with AI-powered technology, including structured and unstructured data based on business rules set by its user. Scan databases, files, and third-party vendors while also remediating data and ensuring compliance with GDPR, CCPA, and other regulations.
2. Datadog Sensitive Data Scanner↗
Datadog's Sensitive Data Scanner improves security by identifying, tagging, and redacting or hashing sensitive data. Compliance teams can defend against sensitive data leaks and non-compliance risks. The tool allows you to define scanning groups with query filters and toggles, and define scanning rules to determine what sensitive information needs to match within the data.
3. ManageEngine DataSecurity Plus↗
With ManageEngine DataSecurity Plus, you can effectively audit your file server, monitor compliance, and prevent data loss. This system also categorizes sensitive data with a PII scanner and assesses and reorganizes your access rights management structure. Pre-set security policy templates for major data privacy standards help you enforce compliance without manual configuration overhead.
4. Spirion Sensitive Data Manager↗
To reduce the likelihood of sensitive data storage being hacked, this cloud platform installs agents on devices at your site. You can also carry out agentless monitoring of cloud platforms for a data management strategy geared toward reducing storage vulnerability. It scans for intellectual property, PHI, PII, and credit card information.
5. N-able Risk Intelligence Software↗
N-able Risk Intelligence's software goes beyond sensitive data. It also scans Windows and Mac OS devices for security weaknesses like outdated programs, and analyzes the safety of email systems — making it a broader security tool for eCommerce businesses that want a single platform for data and device risk.
How Sensitive Data Scanning Integrates with Your Tech Stack
Your eCommerce platform likely connects to dozens of third-party tools—payment processors, email marketing platforms, analytics services, and customer data platforms. Each integration creates a potential exposure point for sensitive data. A sensitive data scanner helps you map where customer information flows across these systems.
For a Shopify store using Klaviyo for email marketing and Google Analytics for tracking, you need visibility into what data each tool collects and stores. When you scan your connected apps, you can identify if payment card details are being logged in places they shouldn't be, or if email addresses are being retained longer than necessary. Tools that support API scanning can check your integrations without manual intervention.
This is especially critical if you're using Meta Pixel for retargeting ads or Google's server-side tracking. These pixels collect behavioral data that can inadvertently include PII if not properly configured. Scanning reveals these misconfigurations before they become compliance violations. You'll also want to audit third-party vendors you've given database access to—a scanner can flag if they're collecting more data than required for their service.
The goal isn't to cut off all integrations, but to understand your data flow completely. When you know where your sensitive data lives, you can set appropriate retention policies, encryption rules, and access controls for each system.
Data Scanning and Cookie Consent Implementation
If you're managing a cookie banner on your Shopify store or any eCommerce site, sensitive data scanning plays a supporting role in your consent strategy. Your scanner should identify all cookies and tracking technologies your site deploys, then flag which ones process sensitive information like customer IDs or purchase history.
This inventory feeds directly into your cookie banner configuration. You need to know whether a cookie is strictly necessary for checkout or if it's used for marketing purposes. A scanner can reveal unexpected data collection—for example, your analytics tool might be collecting email addresses in session IDs without you realizing it. That changes how you disclose consent to customers.
When a customer submits a data subject access request (DSAR), your scanner becomes essential for response. You need to quickly locate all personal data you hold about that individual across databases, logs, and files. Without a scan-based inventory, you risk incomplete DSAR responses, which violates regulations like GDPR and CCPA.
Scanning also helps you enforce your own consent decisions. If a customer opts out of marketing cookies, your scanner can verify that marketing pixels like Facebook Pixel or TikTok Pixel are actually respecting that preference and not still tracking them. This bridges the gap between your cookie banner tool and your actual data collection behavior.
Addressing Common Scanning Blind Spots in eCommerce
Most eCommerce brands focus data scanning on their databases and servers but miss critical blind spots. Backups and archived files often contain sensitive customer data that never gets scanned because they're considered "inactive." If hackers gain access to your backup storage, they can extract unencrypted customer records from months ago.
Another blind spot is your support team's communication channels. When customers email support with complaints or requests, they often include order details, payment card last four digits, or account credentials in the message. These emails sit in your team's inboxes or help desk ticketing systems unencrypted. A proper scan should cover email archives and support platforms where PII accumulates over time.
Log files are frequently overlooked too. When errors occur on your Shopify store or other systems, error logs may capture sensitive data like customer tokens or API keys as part of the debugging information. These logs are often retained for longer than necessary and stored without encryption. Your scanner should flag these logs for redaction or deletion.
Finally, consider the data your third-party apps generate about your customers internally. Services like Shopify's built-in analytics, email marketing platforms, and customer review systems each maintain their own databases. You may have limited visibility into what they store and for how long. Scanning should include interviews with your vendors about their data practices, not just your own systems.