ITS Security

Installing and Using Senf on your Mac

 

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Senf: The Sensitive Number Finder

Senf is a fast, portable tool (written in Java, runnable just about everywhere) for finding sensitive numbers. Use this tool to identify files on your system that may have Social Security Numbers (SSNs) or Credit Card Numbers (CCNs).

Here are some basic instructions to get you started. If you need further instructions or are simply curious about what you can do with Senf please check the website/wiki.
1. Download Senf
2. Double click the senf.zip file and it will unzip itself and form a folder.
3. In the folder you are looking for a file called senf.jar

This is a Java archive file that you will run. Double click on senf.jar
Senf Folder
4. After double clicking senf.jar it will open with a window that says senf forecast. The root scan path should be read your user name, in this case the short name of our user was apple. The rest of the boxes you can leave unchecked.

At this point Senf is ready to start scanning. Click the Scan button and it will begin scanning your drive.
senf forecast
5. As Senf runs you will notice files appearing in the top window along with information about what the program is doing. In the second half of the window are files that Senf thinks may contain Social Security Numbers or Credit Card Numbers. Some of these files may not contain any of your information but may picked up by the program.
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6. You can check the information in a file simply by clicking on it. If it is a large file it may take a bit of time to open.
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7. When the file does open it opens in the Senf Analyzer. Here you can see an example of a social security number being found. Senf outlines it's findings in yellow.
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8. After reviewing any found files simply click the quit button.

Installation Notes

Senf does not find every file that may contain a SSN or credit card number it is simply looking for a pattern. It is however a tool that will help you possibly discover forgotten files. It will also find files that do not have SSNs in them. You will learn quickly to recognize the false ones.