By default, VWO anonymizes all key presses during data collection under VWO Insights to ensure no personal or sensitive data is stored or transmitted to VWO servers.
To hide or anonymize text elements on your web pages, you can enable the Hide all text on HTML body option. If you're anonymizing a larger section and need to exclude a specific area or element, the Whitelist option allows you to do so. For example, if you want to anonymize the entire checkout form but exclude the "Product Details" section, you can use the Whitelist option to ensure only the relevant data is excluded from anonymization. Additionally, if you want to exclude specific URLs from session recordings, you can use the Exclude URL option. To hide canvas elements in session recordings, disable the Show Canvas elements in recordings option.
These options can be accessed by going to Insights > Session Recordings > Settings > Configuration.
- Areas that are anonymized by default cannot be whitelisted.
- The Anonymize option does not hide images. To hide images during session recordings, contact support@vwo.com.
Hiding Entire Body
To quickly anonymize all text on a web page, enable the Hide all text on HTML body option. This simple setting effectively conceals sensitive information across the entire page, providing a swift solution for data privacy concerns.
Anonymizing and Whitelisting Fields
To anonymize or whitelist an area in a region where you have applied anonymization, perform as follows:
Procedure
- Under Configuration > Anonymize / Whitelist Elements, click on Add element.
- In the dropdown, choose Anonymize / Whitelist as required.
- Enter the CSS selector path for the element you want to anonymize/whitelist.
- Click Save.
Handling Multiple Elements with the Same Selector
If multiple elements share the same selector path or selector of an element changes dynamically, apply nls_protected class to the specific element you want to anonymize. This allows for targeted masking of sensitive information.
Example:
<input type="text" name="cc_number" class="nls_protected" />
Anonymized Values:
- Numerical inputs (e.g., credit card, social security): The numbers are replaced with zeros.
- Text / Alphanumeric fields: Characters are replaced with asterisks.
- Date fields: Replaced with 1970-01-01.
- Anonymization: Only owners and admins can anonymize elements.
- Whitelisting: Only owners can whitelist elements (i.e., prevent them from being anonymized).
Excluding URLs
You can use this option to specify URLs where session recordings should not be captured. This feature helps you:
- Avoid recording sensitive pages. For example, login, checkout, or pages where user privacy is critical.
- Optimize storage and performance. For example, you can exclude unnecessary pages to focus on relevant insights.
- Improve data accuracy by eliminating irrelevant pages to get cleaner session recordings.
To exclude a URL from session recordings:
- Click Exclude URL.
- Enter the URLs or patterns you want to exclude.
- Click Save.
VWO stops recording the specified URLs.
Hiding Canvas Elements in Recordings
If your website uses canvas elements to display dynamic graphics or is built using Flutter SDK, you can uncheck the Show Canvas elements in recordings box to mask sensitive content. By default, it is unchecked.
For Flutter-based websites, you can also mask a widget on a screen using vwoWrapper or pause the recording when you need to hide a screen. This hides the canvas elements containing sensitive user data to ensure privacy and data compliance.
By following these steps and leveraging VWO's anonymization features, you can effectively protect sensitive user data and maintain privacy compliance.