Document sanitization is the process of ensuring that only the intended information can be accessed from a document.
In addition to making sure the document text doesn’t openly divulge anything it shouldn’t, document sanitization includes removing Document metadata that could pose a privacy or security risk. Document metadata can contain the names of authors and modifiers, the dates of creation and changes, file size, edit changes, revision histories and comment exchanges between authors and editors. Because that metadata may contain sensitive information, it's important safeguard it from unauthorized access.
A common way to remove metadata from a document is to convert it to PDF format before releasing it; however, there are processes that must be followed to ensure the document contains no unintended information. The National Security Agency (NSA) recommends the following six-step process for secure conversion and redaction of Word documents:
See also: metadata management, metadata security
29 Aug 2014