Genetic data

Identifies documents containing references to genetic data in Australian contexts. This information type is classified as personally identifiable information under applicable data protection regulations.

Type: regex
Engine: boost_regex
Confidence: medium
Confidence justification: category-aware structural regex with anchor and context constraints replaces phrase-only detection. Added context gating and exclusion rules improve precision and reduce incidental matches.
Detection quality: Topic false positive
Jurisdictions: global
Regulations: Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth), Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld), NDB Scheme (Cth), Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), GDPR
Frameworks: ISO 27001
Data categories: government-id, pii
Scope: wide
Risk rating: 8
Platform compatibility: Purview: Compatible, GCP DLP: Compatible, Macie: Compatible, Zscaler: Compatible, Palo Alto: Degraded, Netskope: Unsupported

Pattern

(?is)\b(?:genetic\s+data|genetic\s+information|genetic\s+test|genetic\s+profile|genetic\s+sample|genetic\s+marker)\b

Corroborative evidence keywords

genetic data, genetic, data, personal, identity, demographics, neurodata, brain-computer interface, neural recording, neural data, brain scan data, EEG data, brain imaging, biometric, biometrics, biometric data, biometric information, biometric template, biometric identifier, data record (+23 more)

Proximity: 300 characters

Should match

genetic data — Primary topic phrase match
genetic information — Case-insensitive topic phrase match
genetic test — Alternative topic phrase match
genetic profile — Additional topic phrase match
Genetic data: Recorded Patient: Avery Teston Date of birth: 14/02/1988 — Populated attribute field with a linked record field (85 tier)

Should not match

unrelated generic text without domain phrases — No relevant topic phrases present
placeholder value 12345 — Random text should not match topic-specific regex
name disability — Generic word pair from old broad template should not match
Genetic data: Name: Date of birth: — Empty form: the heading and field labels without values must not corroborate themselves (discovery only)
Policy guidance: this procedure explains how records about genetic data are handled, who may access them and how long they are kept. It contains no records about any person or system. — Policy guidance naming the topic without any record (discovery only)
Genetic data: Patient: Avery Teston — Record with the attribute label but no value: the label must not corroborate itself (discovery only)

Known false positives

Common words and phrases related to genetic data appearing in policy documents, training materials, HR templates, or compliance guidelines without actual personal data. Mitigation: Require corroborative evidence keywords within the proximity window to confirm sensitive data context rather than general discussion.
In Australian English, similar terminology used in formal or administrative contexts (education, professional documentation) that does not constitute sensitive data collection. Mitigation: Layer with additional contextual signals such as structured identifiers, form fields, or database column headers to distinguish sensitive records from general references.
High-frequency pattern matches in large document corpora due to broad regex anchors. Expected match rate is significantly higher than specific identifier patterns. Mitigation: Tune confidence thresholds for bulk scanning. Consider using this pattern primarily as a pre-filter with secondary validation.