Windows Data Privacy Scanner Development

Project Title: Build a Windows Desktop Privacy & Sensitive-Data File Scanner I need an experienced Windows software developer/team to build a professional desktop application that scans a computer deeply and identifies files containing sensitive or confidential information. The application must work mainly locally/offline, so customer documents do not need to be uploaded to external servers. The software must inspect the actual contents of files, not only filenames. Core Purpose The app should help businesses discover forgotten or exposed sensitive information such as: - Social Insurance Numbers (SIN) - Bank/account numbers - Credit card numbers - Passport/driver licence numbers - Dates of birth - Names, addresses, phone numbers, emails - Health information - Employee/customer information - Tax-related information - User-defined confidential keywords/patterns Deep Scanning The application must scan: - Entire drives - Selected folders - Deeply nested folders - Hidden files/folders - System folders where permissions allow - USB/external drives - Network/shared drives where authorized The program must never silently skip files. Each discovered file should receive a status: - Successfully scanned - Access denied - Password protected - Encrypted - Unsupported - Corrupted - Locked - Skipped with reason File Types Minimum support: - PDF - DOC/DOCX - XLS/XLSX - TXT - CSV - RTF - PPT/PPTX - JPG/JPEG - PNG - TIFF - BMP - ZIP Preferred additional support: - EML - MSG - PST - 7Z/RAR Images/scanned documents should use OCR when required. Sensitive-Data Detection Use appropriate combinations of: - Regular expressions - Checksum validation - Named Entity Recognition - Local AI/NLP if useful Custom detection rules must be supported. Example: "CLIENT-12345678" or “CONFIDENTIAL ACQUISITION” False positives should be minimized. Exact File Location When sensitive information is detected, the app should show: - File name - Full path - File type - Created/modified date - Sensitive-data category - Risk level - Exact PDF page where possible - Excel sheet/cell where possible - Text line/paragraph where possible - Masked evidence preview Example: Type: SIN File: "C:\Clients\Client123\TaxReturn.pdf" Page: 7 Preview: "*** *** 123" Risk: High Buttons: - Open File - Open Folder - Mark Reviewed - False Positive - Ignore File - Ignore Folder Local Privacy Default mode must keep files on the customer’s computer. No document uploads to external AI/cloud services unless explicitly enabled in a future version. Any external APIs/libraries must be disclosed. The application should clearly show: Local Scan – Documents remain on this computer Performance The app may need to process: - 10,000 files - 100,000 files - 500,000 files - 1,000,000+ files It must not load everything into RAM. Include performance modes: Low Impact – computer remains usable Normal – balanced Overnight/Maximum – faster scanning Allow control of: - CPU usage - Worker threads - Disk activity where practical Pause / Resume Mandatory. Scan progress must be saved continuously. If a scan stops at 60% because of shutdown/restart/crash, reopening the application must allow: Resume Previous Scan It should continue rather than restart from zero. Previously scanned unchanged files should not need complete rescanning. Use file metadata/hash where appropriate. Dashboard Display: - Total files discovered - Files scanned - Files remaining - Completion % - Current location - Scan speed - Findings count - Access denied - Encrypted/password protected - Unsupported/corrupted files Search & Filters Filter findings by: - Risk level - Data type - File type - Folder - Date - File age - Hidden/non-hidden - Duplicate/non-duplicate - Reviewed/not reviewed Duplicate Detection Identify exact duplicate sensitive files using file hashes. Example: “This passport scan exists in 6 different folders.” Old Sensitive Files Allow the user to flag sensitive files older than: - 2 years - 5 years - 7 years - 10 years - Custom period The software should only flag them for review, not claim they legally must be deleted. Folder Permissions Where technically possible, inspect Windows folder/file permissions. Example: Sensitive file located in folder accessible by 35 users Flag as: Potential broad-access exposure Do not automatically classify this as a legal violation. Quarantine Allow users to move selected files to a quarantine folder.

Requirements

- User confirmation required - Record original location - Record new location - Audit log - No automatic deletion Review Actions Allow: - Reviewed - Accepted - False positive - Needs action - Ignored - Notes/comments Users should also be able to create ignore rules for specific folders/files/patterns. Reporting Export professional reports to: - PDF - Excel - CSV Reports should include: - Total files scanned - High/medium/low findings - Duplicates - Old sensitive files - Permission exposures - Files not successfully scanned - Top risky folders - Data categories detected Full sensitive values should be masked. Before/After Comparison If the customer performs another scan after cleanup, show: - Previous findings - Current findings - Removed findings - New findings - Remaining findings - Percentage reduction Audit Log Record: - Scan started/stopped/resumed - Finding reviewed - File quarantined - Ignore rule created - Report exported Include date/time. Local Database Use SQLite or similar embedded database. Store: - File metadata - Scan status - Hash - Findings - Review status - Scan history Do NOT store unnecessary complete copies of customer documents. Security Requirements: - No hard-coded passwords - No hidden uploads/telemetry - Mask sensitive previews - Secure handling of temporary files - Delete temporary extraction files when no longer required Installer Final product must include: - Windows installer - Uninstaller - Application version - App icon - Installation documentation Acceptance Testing I will independently test the program before final pay