Match likelihood

Scan results are categorized based on how likely they are to represent a match. Cloud Data Loss Prevention uses a bucketized representation of likelihood, which is intended to indicate how likely it is that a piece of data matches a given infoType.

In your request, set the minimum level of likelihood for scan results that you want to retrieve. The following table lists the possible values for likelihood, arranged in order from lowest to highest probability of a match:

ENUM Description
LIKELIHOOD_UNSPECIFIED Default value; same as POSSIBLE.
VERY_UNLIKELY It is very unlikely that the data matches the given InfoType.
UNLIKELY It is unlikely that the data matches the given InfoType.
POSSIBLE It is possible that the data matches the given InfoType.
LIKELY It is likely that the data matches the given InfoType.
VERY_LIKELY It is very likely that the data matches the given InfoType.

The likelihood you set affects the number of matching elements that are returned in the response. For example, a request with likelihood set to POSSIBLE yields results that match POSSIBLE, LIKELY, and VERY_LIKELY. A request with likelihood set to VERY_LIKELY yields the least number of results. Its response contains only the findings that are very likely to match the InfoType your request is scanning for.

If you don't set a minimum likelihood in your request, or if you set it to LIKELIHOOD_UNSPECIFIED, Cloud DLP returns only the findings with a likelihood of POSSIBLE and higher.