---
title: Filtering sensitive data
description: Learn how to filter sensitive data from error reports sent to Honeybadger.
url: https://docs.honeybadger.io/lib/python/errors/filtering-sensitive-data/
---

You have complete control over the data that Honeybadger reports when an error occurs. Before data is sent to Honeybadger, it is passed through a filter to remove sensitive fields and do other processing on the data. The default configuration is equivalent to:

```python
from honeybadger import honeybadger
honeybadger.configure(
    params_filters=[
        "password",
        "password_confirmation",
        "credit_card",
        "CSRF_COOKIE",
    ]
)
```

## How it works

The `params_filters` configuration applies to:

* **Request parameters** (GET/POST data)
* **Session data**
* **Cookies**
* **CGI environment variables**
* **Local variables** (when `report_local_variables` is enabled)

Any field matching a filter key will have its value replaced with `"[FILTERED]"`. Filtering works recursively on nested dictionaries. For example:

```python
# Before filtering
data = {
    "username": "alice",
    "password": "secret123",
    "user_data": {
        "credit_card": "1234-5678-9012-3456"
    }
}


# After filtering
data = {
    "username": "alice",
    "password": "[FILTERED]",
    "user_data": {
        "credit_card": "[FILTERED]"
    }
}
```

## Filtering with before\_notify

For more control, you can use a `before_notify` handler to inspect and modify the notice before it’s sent. This gives you access to request params, session data, CGI variables, and more:

```python
from honeybadger import honeybadger


def filter_notice(notice):
    # Remove a specific key from request params
    if "api_token" in notice.params:
        del notice.params["api_token"]


    # Redact session data
    notice.session = {
        k: "[FILTERED]" if k in ("auth_token", "csrf") else v
        for k, v in notice.session.items()
    }


    return notice


honeybadger.configure(before_notify=filter_notice)
```

See [Configuration](https://docs.honeybadger.io/lib/python/reference/configuration/#notice-properties) for a full list of available notice properties.

---

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