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Data anonymization

The Snow Inventory Agent can be configured to send anonymous user data from the inventoried computer. It can also be configured not to inventory any IP addresses assigned to the network interfaces of the computers.

Configure the agent to anonymize user data​

If you want the user data that is found during the agent's scan and included in the .snowpack file to be anonymous, you can configure the agent to replace the user data with SHA-1 hash. This applies to both the usernames of logged-on users and to usernames within the software metering. The same encrypted string will be used everywhere to replace a username. That is, even if the user uses multiple computers, no duplicate entries are created.

To enable this option, set privacy.hide_user in the agent configuration file to true:

<SystemSettings>
    <Setting key="privacy.hide_user" value="true" />
</SystemSettings>
EXAMPLE

Default setting (not anonymous)

NotAnonymous.png

With privacy.hide_user=true (anonymous)

Anonymous.png

Configure the agent to anonymize IP addresses​

If you want the IP addresses assigned to the network interfaces of the computer to be anonymous, you can configure the agent to replace the IP addresses with SHA-1 hash.

To enable this option, set privacy.hide_ip in the agent configuration file to true:

<SystemSettings>
    <Setting key="privacy.hide_ip" value="true" />
</SystemSettings>
note

When this option is enabled, it is not possible to use Auto Connect Rules in Snow License Manager based on computer IP addresses for allocation of computers to different units in the organization structure. However, other criteria can still be used for Auto Connect Rules, such as computer hostnames and site names.