# 4. PII scan

Syntho provides a built-in PII scanner to help you identify columns that may contain personally identifiable information (PII) in your datasets. This step is essential to ensure data privacy compliance and to prevent accidental exposure of sensitive fields.

You can run a [shallow scan](/configure-a-data-generation-job/privacy-dashboard/automatic-pii-discovery-with-pii-scanner.md#shallow-scan-uses-metadata) (faster, based on metadata) or a [deep scan](/configure-a-data-generation-job/privacy-dashboard/automatic-pii-discovery-with-pii-scanner.md#deep-scan-uses-metadata--data) (more accurate, inspects data contents using NLP).

{% hint style="warning" %}
**Important:** PII Scanner results should always be reviewed manually. Some columns may be falsely flagged or missed.
{% endhint %}

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### Interactive guide: How to start the PII scanner

Follow the interactive guide below to run your first PII scan

{% embed url="<https://www.guidejar.com/guides/14115eb8-62b8-41a1-b382-43a0bd19bd05>" %}

***

### Scan modes explained

| Scan Type                                                                                                                                 | Description                                                             | Speed  | Accuracy                                   |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------ | ------------------------------------------ |
| [Shallow Scan](/configure-a-data-generation-job/privacy-dashboard/automatic-pii-discovery-with-pii-scanner.md#shallow-scan-uses-metadata) | Uses column names and regex rules to infer PII                          | Fast   | Medium                                     |
| [Deep Scan](/configure-a-data-generation-job/privacy-dashboard/automatic-pii-discovery-with-pii-scanner.md#deep-scan-uses-metadata--data) | Analyzes actual data content using NLP models (for string/text columns) | Slower | Higher (but possibly more false positives) |

#### What to watch for

* Red PII column headers: These columns are flagged but not yet handled (e.g., no [Mocker](/configure-a-data-generation-job/configure-column-settings/mockers.md) or [Mask](/configure-a-data-generation-job/configure-column-settings/mask.md)).
* Exclamation mark (!) next to table name: Indicates at-risk PII columns are still in [Duplicate](/configure-a-data-generation-job/configure-column-settings/duplicate.md) mode.

#### To resolve

* Apply a [Mocker](/configure-a-data-generation-job/configure-column-settings/mockers.md)
* Or [exclude](/configure-a-data-generation-job/configure-column-settings/exclude.md) the column from data generation


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