Sentry Security Basics

Overview

Configure Sentry's security posture: PII scrubbing with beforeSend, built-in data scrubbing, IP anonymization, browser SDK URL filtering, DSN vs auth token handling, CSP reporting, and GDPR data deletion. Covers both client-side (SDK) and server-side (dashboard) controls.

Prerequisites

Sentry project created with Owner or Admin role
@sentry/node >= 8.x or @sentry/browser >= 8.x installed (or sentry-sdk >= 2.x for Python)
Compliance requirements identified (GDPR, SOC 2, HIPAA, CCPA)
List of sensitive data patterns for your domain (PII fields, API keys, tokens)

Instructions

Step 1 — Understand DSN vs Auth Token Security

The DSN (Data Source Name) is a client-facing identifier — it tells the SDK where to send events. It is NOT a secret.

https://<public-key>@o<org-id>.ingest.us.sentry.io/<project-id>

The DSN cannot read data, delete events, or modify settings
It is safe to ship in client-side JavaScript bundles
Restrict abuse via Allowed Domains (Project Settings > Client Keys > Configure)

Auth tokens ARE secrets — they grant API access to read/write/delete data:

# NEVER commit auth tokens — store in CI secrets or vault
# GitHub Actions: Settings > Secrets > SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN
# GitLab CI: Settings > CI/CD > Variables (protected + masked)

# Generate tokens with MINIMAL scopes:
#   CI releases:   project:releases, org:read
#   Issue triage:  project:read, event:read
#   NEVER:         org:admin, member:admin in CI

# Rotate tokens quarterly — revoke unused tokens immediately
# Create separate tokens per pipeline (staging vs production)

Step 2 — Disable Default PII Collection

sendDefaultPii defaults to false — but always set it explicitly so intent is clear:

import * as Sentry from '@sentry/node';

Sentry.init({
  dsn: process.env.SENTRY_DSN,
  sendDefaultPii: false, // explicit: no IPs, no cookies, no user-agent
});

When sendDefaultPii: false (default):

No IP addresses attached to events
No cookies sent in request data
No user-agent strings in request headers
No request body data captured
User context must be set manually via Sentry.setUser()

# Python equivalent
import sentry_sdk

sentry_sdk.init(
    dsn=os.environ["SENTRY_DSN"],
    send_default_pii=False,  # default, but be explicit
)

Step 3 — Client-Side PII Scrubbing with beforeSend

beforeSend runs before every event leaves the client. Use it to strip PII that leaks into error messages, request data, or breadcrumbs:

Sentry.init({
  dsn: process.env.SENTRY_DSN,
  sendDefaultPii: false,

  beforeSend(event, hint) {
    // --- Scrub sensitive headers ---
    if (event.request?.headers) {
      delete event.request.headers['Authorization'];
      delete event.request.headers['Cookie'];
      delete event.request.headers['X-Api-Key'];
      delete event.request.headers['X-Auth-Token'];
    }

    // --- Scrub request body fields ---
    if (event.request?.data) {
      try {
        const data = typeof event.request.data === 'string'
          ? JSON.parse(event.request.data)
          : { ...event.request.data };

        const sensitiveKeys = [
          'password', 'passwd', 'secret', 'token',
          'ssn', 'credit_card', 'card_number', 'cvv',
          'api_key', 'apiKey', 'access_token', 'refresh_token',
        ];
        for (const key of Object.keys(data)) {
          if (sensitiveKeys.some(s => key.toLowerCase().includes(s))) {
            data[key] = '[REDACTED]';
          }
        }
        event.request.data = JSON.stringify(data);
      } catch {
        // non-JSON body — leave as-is
      }
    }

    // --- Scrub PII from exception messages ---
    if (event.exception?.values) {
      for (const exc of event.exception.values) {
        if (exc.value) {
          // Email addresses
          exc.value = exc.value.replace(
            /[a-zA-Z0-9._%+-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9.-]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,}/g,
            '[EMAIL_REDACTED]'
          );
          // IPv4 addresses
          exc.value = exc.value.replace(
            /\b\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\b/g,
            '[IP_REDACTED]'
          );
          // Credit card numbers (with optional separators)
          exc.value = exc.value.replace(
            /\b\d{4}[\s-]?\d{4}[\s-]?\d{4}[\s-]?\d{4}\b/g,
            '[CC_REDACTED]'
          );
          // Bearer tokens in messages
          exc.value = exc.value.replace(
            /Bearer\s+[A-Za-z0-9\-._~+/]+=*/g,
            'Bearer [TOKEN_REDACTED]'
          );
        }
      }
    }

    // --- Scrub user context ---
    if (event.user) {
      delete event.user.email;
      delete event.user.ip_address;
      // Keep event.user.id for issue grouping (non-PII identifier)
    }

    return event;
  },
});

Python equivalent using before_send:

import re

def before_send(event, hint):
    # Scrub emails from exception messages
    if 'exception' in event:
        for exc in event['exception'].get('values', []):
            if exc.get('value'):
                exc['value'] = re.sub(
                    r'[a-zA-Z0-9._%+-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9.-]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,}',
                    '[EMAIL_REDACTED]',
                    exc['value']
                )
                exc['value'] = re.sub(
                    r'\b\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\b',
                    '[IP_REDACTED]',
                    exc['value']
                )

    # Strip user PII
    if 'user' in event:
        event['user'].pop('email', None)
        event['user'].pop('ip_address', None)

    # Scrub request headers
    request = event.get('request', {})
    headers = request.get('headers', {})
    for key in ['Authorization', 'Cookie', 'X-Api-Key']:
        headers.pop(key, None)

    return event

sentry_sdk.init(
    dsn=os.environ["SENTRY_DSN"],
    send_default_pii=False,
    before_send=before_send,
)

Step 4 — Server-Side Data Scrubbing Rules

Configure in Project Settings > Security & Privacy:

Setting	What it does
Data Scrubber	Auto-scrubs fields matching common PII patterns (enabled by default)
Sensitive Fields	Custom field names to always scrub: `password`, `ssn`, `credit_card_number`, `api_key`, `secret`, `token`, `authorization`
Safe Fields	Fields excluded from scrubbing (e.g., `transaction_id`, `correlation_id`)
Scrub IP Addresses	Removes or zeroes IP addresses on all events
Scrub Credit Cards	Detects and removes card number patterns

Organization-wide defaults: Organization Settings > Security & Privacy applies to all projects unless overridden at project level.

Advanced scrubbing rules (regex-based) can target specific event paths:

# Example server-side rules (configure in UI):
# Pattern: [a-zA-Z0-9._%+-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9.-]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,}
# Target:  $message, $error.value, $extra.**
# Action:  Replace with [Filtered]

# Pattern: \b\d{3}-\d{2}-\d{4}\b
# Target:  $extra.**, $contexts.**
# Action:  Replace with [Filtered] (SSN pattern)

Step 5 — Browser SDK URL Filtering

Use denyUrls and allowUrls to control which scripts generate captured errors:

Sentry.init({
  dsn: process.env.SENTRY_DSN,

  // Ignore errors from third-party scripts
  denyUrls: [
    /extensions\//i,           // Browser extensions
    /^chrome:\/\//i,           // Chrome internal
    /^chrome-extension:\/\//i, // Chrome extensions
    /^moz-extension:\/\//i,    // Firefox extensions
    /graph\.facebook\.com/i,   // Facebook SDK
    /connect\.facebook\.net/i, // Facebook SDK
    /cdn\.jsdelivr\.net/i,     // CDN-hosted third-party
  ],

  // Only capture errors from your own code
  allowUrls: [
    /https?:\/\/(www\.)?example\.com/i,
    /https?:\/\/staging\.example\.com/i,
  ],
});

Also configure Allowed Domains in Project Settings > Client Keys (DSN) > Configure to prevent unauthorized origins from sending events to your DSN:

example.com
*.example.com
staging.example.com

Step 6 — CSP Reporting via Sentry

Sentry can ingest Content-Security-Policy violation reports. Use the Security Headers endpoint (not the main DSN):

# Find the report URI in Project Settings > Security Headers
# Format: https://o<org-id>.ingest.us.sentry.io/api/<project-id>/security/?sentry_key=<public-key>

Add to your CSP header:

Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'; report-uri https://o123456.ingest.us.sentry.io/api/789/security/?sentry_key=abc123

Or use the newer report-to directive:

Report-To: {"group":"sentry","max_age":86400,"endpoints":[{"url":"https://o123456.ingest.us.sentry.io/api/789/security/?sentry_key=abc123"}]}
Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; report-to sentry

Step 7 — GDPR Data Deletion

Sentry supports right-to-erasure requests via API:

# Delete a specific issue and all its events
curl -X DELETE \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN" \
  "https://sentry.io/api/0/projects/$SENTRY_ORG/$SENTRY_PROJECT/issues/$ISSUE_ID/"

# Delete events by tag (find issues for a specific user first)
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN" \
  "https://sentry.io/api/0/projects/$SENTRY_ORG/$SENTRY_PROJECT/issues/?query=user.id:$USER_ID" \
  | jq '.[].id' \
  | xargs -I{} curl -X DELETE \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN" \
    "https://sentry.io/api/0/projects/$SENTRY_ORG/$SENTRY_PROJECT/issues/{}/"

For bulk deletion, use Organization Settings > Data Privacy > Data Removal Requests (Business/Enterprise plans).

Data retention settings: Organization Settings > Subscription > Event Retention — configure 30/60/90-day retention windows to auto-purge old data.

Step 8 — Auth Token Hygiene Checklist

# Scan codebase for leaked auth tokens
grep -rn "sntrys_" --include="*.ts" --include="*.js" --include="*.py" \
  --include="*.env*" --include="*.yaml" --include="*.yml" \
  --exclude-dir=node_modules --exclude-dir=.git .

# Sentry auth tokens start with "sntrys_" — any match is a leak
# If found: revoke immediately at sentry.io/settings/auth-tokens/

Token best practices:

Separate tokens per environment — never share between dev/staging/production
Minimal scopes — project:releases + org:read for CI source map uploads
Set expiration dates — 90 days max for CI tokens
Rotate quarterly — calendar reminder, automate if possible
Audit via API — GET /api/0/api-tokens/ to list all active tokens

Output

After completing these steps you will have:

sendDefaultPii: false set explicitly in SDK init
beforeSend callback stripping emails, IPs, credit cards, auth headers, and tokens from events
Server-side data scrubber enabled with custom sensitive field list
denyUrls / allowUrls filtering out third-party noise in browser projects
Allowed Domains restricting which origins can send events
CSP report-uri configured for security header violation reporting
GDPR deletion workflow documented and tested
Auth tokens stored in CI secrets with minimal scopes and expiration dates

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Solution
PII appears in captured events	`sendDefaultPii: true` or PII embedded in error messages	Set `sendDefaultPii: false`; add `beforeSend` scrubbing for error message patterns
Auth token leaked in repo	Token committed to version control	Revoke at sentry.io/settings/auth-tokens/ immediately; rotate; add `sntrys_` pattern to `.gitignore` and pre-commit hooks
Events from unknown domains	DSN used by unauthorized origins	Configure Allowed Domains in Project Settings > Client Keys > Configure
CSP reports not appearing	Wrong report URI or missing `sentry_key` param	Use the Security Headers endpoint from Project Settings, not the main DSN
`beforeSend` drops all events	Callback returns `null` instead of `event`	Ensure every code path returns the `event` object; return `null` only to intentionally drop
Server scrubber too aggressive	Safe fields being redacted	Add field names to the Safe Fields list in Security & Privacy settings
GDPR delete returns 403	Auth token missing `project:admin` scope	Generate a new token with `project:admin` scope for deletion operations

Examples

TypeScript — Full Production Init

import * as Sentry from '@sentry/node';

Sentry.init({
  dsn: process.env.SENTRY_DSN,
  environment: process.env.NODE_ENV,
  sendDefaultPii: false,

  beforeSend(event, hint) {
    // Strip PII from exception values
    event.exception?.values?.forEach(exc => {
      if (exc.value) {
        exc.value = exc.value
          .replace(/[a-zA-Z0-9._%+-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9.-]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,}/g, '[EMAIL]')
          .replace(/\b\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\b/g, '[IP]')
          .replace(/\b\d{4}[\s-]?\d{4}[\s-]?\d{4}[\s-]?\d{4}\b/g, '[CC]');
      }
    });

    // Strip auth headers
    if (event.request?.headers) {
      delete event.request.headers['Authorization'];
      delete event.request.headers['Cookie'];
    }

    // Scrub user PII, keep ID for grouping
    if (event.user) {
      event.user = { id: event.user.id };
    }

    return event;
  },

  beforeSendTransaction(event) {
    // Scrub PII from transaction names (e.g., /users/john@example.com/profile)
    if (event.transaction) {
      event.transaction = event.transaction.replace(
        /[a-zA-Z0-9._%+-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9.-]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,}/g,
        '[EMAIL]'
      );
    }
    return event;
  },
});

Python — Django with PII Scrubbing

import os
import re
import sentry_sdk
from sentry_sdk.integrations.django import DjangoIntegration

EMAIL_RE = re.compile(r'[a-zA-Z0-9._%+-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9.-]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,}')
IP_RE = re.compile(r'\b\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\b')

def before_send(event, hint):
    # Scrub exception messages
    for exc in event.get('exception', {}).get('values', []):
        if exc.get('value'):
            exc['value'] = EMAIL_RE.sub('[EMAIL]', exc['value'])
            exc['value'] = IP_RE.sub('[IP]', exc['value'])

    # Strip sensitive headers
    headers = event.get('request', {}).get('headers', {})
    for h in ['Authorization', 'Cookie', 'X-Api-Key']:
        headers.pop(h, None)

    # Scrub user PII
    user = event.get('user', {})
    user.pop('email', None)
    user.pop('ip_address', None)

    return event

sentry_sdk.init(
    dsn=os.environ["SENTRY_DSN"],
    integrations=[DjangoIntegration()],
    send_default_pii=False,
    before_send=before_send,
    traces_sample_rate=0.1,
)

Resources

Next Steps

sentry-alerts-config — set up alert rules for security-related events
sentry-performance-monitoring — configure tracing with PII-safe transaction names
sentry-release-tracking — source map uploads with scoped auth tokens

sentry-security-basics