How SafeRedact Protects Your Documents
You're trusting us with your most sensitive documents. Here's exactly how we handle them—and why your data is safer with SafeRedact than with traditional redaction tools.
The Core Principle: Your Documents Stay Yours
Most online document tools work by uploading your file to their servers, processing it there, and sending it back. That means your bank statements, tax returns, and IDs sit on someone else's computer.
SafeRedact works differently. Your documents are processed primarily in your browser—on your device, under your control.
How the Redaction Process Works
Step 1: Document Loading
When you upload a document to SafeRedact, it loads directly into your browser's memory. The file stays on your device—it's not transmitted anywhere at this point.
Step 2: AI Detection (Optional)
If you use our AI-powered PII detection, only the specific regions being analyzed are sent to our detection service. This is:
- Encrypted in transit (TLS 1.3)
- Processed immediately
- Not stored or logged
- Deleted from memory after processing
You can also redact manually without using AI detection at all—in which case nothing leaves your browser.
Step 3: Redaction
The actual redaction happens in your browser. When you apply redactions, we don't add a black box over the text—we permanently replace the underlying pixels. The original data is destroyed, not hidden.
Step 4: Download
The redacted document is generated in your browser and downloaded directly to your device. It never passes through our servers.
What Makes Our Redaction Permanent
Not all redaction is created equal. Here's the difference:
❌ Overlay Redaction (What Others Do)
Adds a black rectangle on top of text. The original text still exists underneath and can often be recovered by copying/pasting, using PDF editing tools, or examining the file structure.
✓ Pixel-Level Redaction (What SafeRedact Does)
Permanently replaces the pixels containing sensitive information. The original data is destroyed—there's nothing underneath to recover. This is true, forensic-grade redaction.
What We Don't Do
- We don't store your documents. Not the originals, not the redacted versions, not temporarily, not in backups.
- We don't log document contents. We have no record of what was in your files.
- We don't train AI on your documents. Your data is never used for model training or improvement.
- We don't share data with third parties. Period.
What We Do Collect
For transparency, here's what we do track:
- Account information: Email address for your account
- Usage metrics: Number of documents processed (for subscription limits)
- Payment information: Handled by Stripe—we never see your full card number
- Basic analytics: Page views, feature usage (anonymized)
None of this includes the contents of your documents.
Security Measures
🔐 Encryption in Transit
All communication uses TLS 1.3 encryption. Data cannot be intercepted between your browser and our services.
🖥️ Client-Side Processing
Document rendering and redaction happen in your browser using PDF.js and canvas APIs. Your full document never leaves your device.
🗑️ No Retention
We have no database of user documents. There's nothing to breach, nothing to subpoena, nothing to leak.
🔍 Regular Audits
We regularly review our security practices and architecture to ensure we're following best practices for handling sensitive data.
Common Questions
Is SafeRedact safe for HIPAA-protected documents?
SafeRedact's architecture—browser-based processing with no document storage—aligns well with HIPAA's minimum necessary principle. However, for formal HIPAA compliance, organizations should conduct their own assessment based on their specific use case and requirements.
Can I use SafeRedact for legal documents?
Yes. Our pixel-level redaction is the same technique used for court filings and legal discovery. The redacted information cannot be recovered.
What if I need to prove the document is authentic?
Redaction removes sensitive data but preserves the rest of the document exactly as it was. Headers, formatting, dates, and unredacted content remain unchanged. Recipients can verify the document came from the original source (your bank, employer, etc.).
Is this safer than redacting in Adobe Acrobat?
Adobe's "Mark for Redaction" feature can be secure if used correctly, but it's easy to make mistakes. Many high-profile redaction failures happened because users drew black boxes without applying the redaction. SafeRedact applies permanent redaction automatically—there's no extra step to forget.
The Bottom Line
We built SafeRedact because we needed a tool we'd trust with our own sensitive documents. The privacy-first architecture isn't a marketing feature—it's the foundation of how the product works.
Your documents contain information that could be used for identity theft, financial fraud, or personal harm. We take that seriously. That's why we designed a system where we can't access your documents, even if we wanted to.