Metadata-Only Scanning: How MyVaultMate Finds PII Without Storing It
June 1, 2026 · admin@myvaultmate.com
There's a paradox at the heart of data discovery: to protect sensitive data, you have to find it — but a careless scan can copy that data into a report and multiply the risk it was meant to reduce. MyVaultMate is built to avoid that trap.
What "metadata-only" means
For every finding, MyVaultMate records:
- the PII type (SSN, payment card, date of birth, phone, email, health record, other),
- the severity,
- the file path where it was found,
- an optional redacted sample such as
***-**-1234, - and the detection time.
What it never stores is the raw detected value. The finding record has no field for it, and the agent ignores any stray raw value a client might send. The result tells you exactly where to act without ever centralizing the sensitive data itself.
Why this design matters
- Smaller blast radius: the dashboard isn't a honeypot of plaintext PII.
- Easier compliance: you reduce risk instead of relocating it.
- Confident adoption: teams can scan freely, knowing the tool isn't hoarding their data.
Defense in depth around it
Agent API tokens are stored as SHA-256 hashes, scoped per organization, and revocable. Findings are visible only to members of the organization that owns them. Discovery you can trust is discovery you'll actually run — and a scan you run regularly is worth far more than a perfect one you avoid.