How to reduce sensitive data risks in Jira for GDPR compliance

Jira is widely used to manage work, projects, and customer requests. In practice, it often contains personal and sensitive data, even if this was never the intention.

As a result, Jira often falls under GDPR rules, especially for companies in the EU or working with EU customers.

Why Jira must be GDPR-compliant

GDPR applies to any system that stores or processes personal data.

In Jira, personal data may appear in:

work item summaries and descriptions
comments and attachments
custom fields
support and service desk tickets
work item change history

Typical examples of personal or sensitive data include:

names and email addresses
usernames and login information
phone numbers
IP addresses
customer or employee identifiers

Even if such data is later removed from the current work item view, GDPR may still apply if the data remains stored and accessible.

From a compliance perspective, organizations need to be able to:

identify where personal data is stored
understand whether personal data existed in the past
demonstrate control during audits and security reviews
reduce the risk of unintended data exposure

Common GDPR Risks in Jira

GDPR risks in Jira are often underestimated because personal and sensitive data are spread across multiple locations.

Typical risk scenarios include:

sensitive data accidentally added to comments
credentials or tokens shared during troubleshooting
customer data stored in support or service desk tickets
data removed from the current work item view but still present in work item history
no single place to review sensitive data across projects

Native Jira features provide limited visibility into historical data and don’t offer a dedicated way to detect sensitive data patterns.

How Security Scanner View Helps

Security Scanner View (PII & DLP) in Issue History for Jira is designed to address common GDPR and data protection challenges in Jira.

It automatically scans:

current work item content
historical work item changes

It helps to detect personal and sensitive data stored in Jira.

This allows teams to identify data that may pose compliance or security risks, including data that is no longer visible in the current work item view but still exists in history.

What Security Scanner View Does

Security Scanner View can detect a wide range of personal and sensitive data relevant to GDPR, including:

names and email addresses
phone numbers
IP addresses
user identifiers and usernames

In addition, it can also detect security-sensitive data that may increase the risk of personal data exposure, such as:

passwords and passphrases
login credentials
API keys and access tokens
cloud service credentials
credit card numbers

Security-related findings are important because unauthorized access enabled by such data can lead to GDPR-relevant incidents.

All detected findings are displayed in a structured, centralized view, making them easier to review, assess risk, and take action.

Historical Findings: Why They Matter for GDPR

GDPR doesn’t apply only to the current state of data.

If personal or sensitive data 👇:

existed in the past
was visible to users
was stored in the work item history

👉 it can still be relevant during:

audits
security investigations
compliance assessments

Security Scanner View highlights historical findings-cases where sensitive data no longer appears in the current work item view but is still present in its history.

This helps teams:

understand past exposure
avoid false assumptions that “the data is gone”
take informed remediation actions

How to find sensitive data in work items and their history

Open Issue History for Jira app and go to Security Scanner View.
Select what to scan using filters. You can filter work items by space, sprint, JQL, and more.
Set the date range to specify the time period to scan (current content and history within that range).
Review the generated report. It shows work items where sensitive data was detected, the category of the detected sensitive data, the sensitive data, and the score indicating how much attention the finding may require.

Using Security Scanner View helps organizations:

improve visibility into personal data stored in Jira
reduce the risk of unnoticed sensitive data exposure
prepare stronger answers for auditors and security teams
demonstrate proactive data protection measures
support internal GDPR processes without extra manual effort

So, using Security Scanner View in Issue History for Jira, you can detect sensitive data across both current work items and past changes, making it easier to reduce risk, stay compliant, and keep control over sensitive information stored in Jira.

Haven't used Issue History for Jira app yet? 👉 Then you’re welcome to try it 🚀