Instructions

Teach Data Protector how to treat a specific scenario.

What Is an Instruction?

An instruction is a rule you give Data Protector: in this scenario, do this. Categories cover the common cases out of the box. Instructions let you handle the ones that are specific to your organisation, such as always blocking a project codename, or allowing a scenario your team has already reviewed.

Instructions are forward-looking. Once you save one, the agent applies it to every trace from then on.

Where Instructions Live

Instructions sit on each Data Protector configuration. Open a Data Protector from Agents → Overview.

• Each data category has its own Instructions list, for rules that belong to that category.
• The Instructions card below the categories holds rules that fall outside the existing categories.

Changes are staged on the page and saved together when you select Save changes. You can add instructions while you create a new Data Protector, before it has been saved for the first time.

Add an Instruction

1. Open the list

   On the Data Protector configuration, select Add instructions on a category, or on the Instructions card for uncategorised rules.

2. Choose what to match

   Pick one of three kinds of rule, or reuse one of your Existing instructions.

   Option	Shown as	Use it for
   A known data shape	String match	Exact values, such as a codename or a specific account number.
   A pattern	Regex	A format written as a regular expression, such as every card number of a given shape.
   A situation or behaviour	Scenario	A situation described in your own words that no fixed pattern catches.

3. Describe it

   Give it a Name of instructions, then add the values, the pattern, or the scenario. For a scenario, you can Start from a predefined scenario and edit it under Define scenario.

4. Set criticality and action

   Choose a Criticality of Low or High, and an Action of Allow or Block. High criticality also notifies the recipients set on the Data Protector when the instruction applies. See Escalations.

5. Save

   Add the instruction, then select Save changes on the configuration.

Reusing an instruction on another Data Protector

An instruction can be shared by several Data Protectors. Pick it from Existing instructions to use it as it is. If you change anything, Velatir saves your version as a new instruction, so the original stays the same for the other Data Protectors.

Redact Matches From Pasted Text

Known data shape and pattern rules can also strip their matches from pasted text. Turn on Offer each match for redaction on the rule. When someone pastes text that matches, they see it with the matches removed and choose how to proceed, in the same way as Redaction for categories.

This works when the Data Protector is an Enforcer with Clipboard assessment turned on, and needs version 1.17.0 or later of the Velatir browser extension.

Correct an Assessment

You do not have to write every instruction from scratch. Open a Data Protector assessment of a prompt under Agents → Assessments and select Correct future behaviour. Name the instruction, set its criticality and action, and select Create instructions.

The new instruction keeps a link to the assessment it came from. It appears on the Data Protector under Made from assessments, in the category it applies to. To change it later, return to the assessment and select Edit instructions.

Test Before You Save

Each Data Protector configuration has a Testing panel on the right. Enter a sample prompt and select Run test to see how the agent would assess it. The test uses the configuration as it is on the page, including changes you have not saved yet, so you can check a new instruction before it goes live. Nothing you test touches live traffic. See Data Protector.

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Data Protector

See how instructions sit alongside categories.

Assessments

Review verdicts and correct them for the future.