---
title: DLP profiles · Cloudflare Zero Trust docs
description: A DLP profile is a collection of regular expressions and detection
  entries that define the data patterns you want to detect. Cloudflare DLP
  provides predefined profiles for common detections, or you can build custom
  DLP profiles specific to your data, organization, and risk tolerance.
lastUpdated: 2025-08-20T21:45:15.000Z
chatbotDeprioritize: false
source_url:
  html: https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/policies/data-loss-prevention/dlp-profiles/
  md: https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/policies/data-loss-prevention/dlp-profiles/index.md
---

A DLP profile is a collection of regular expressions and [detection entries](https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/policies/data-loss-prevention/detection-entries/) that define the data patterns you want to detect. Cloudflare DLP provides predefined profiles for common detections, or you can build custom DLP profiles specific to your data, organization, and risk tolerance.

## Configure a predefined profile

1. In [Zero Trust](https://one.dash.cloudflare.com/), go to **Data loss prevention** > **DLP profiles**.
2. Choose a [predefined profile](https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/policies/data-loss-prevention/dlp-profiles/predefined-profiles/) and select **Configure**.
3. Enable one or more **Detection entries** according to your preferences. The DLP Profile matches using the OR logical operator — if multiple entries are enabled, your data needs to match only one of the entries.
4. Select **Save profile**.

You can now use this profile in a [DLP policy](https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/policies/data-loss-prevention/dlp-policies/#2-create-a-dlp-policy) or [CASB integration](https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/applications/casb/casb-dlp/).

## Build a custom profile

1. In [Zero Trust](https://one.dash.cloudflare.com/), go to **Data loss prevention** > **DLP profiles**.

2. Select **Create profile**.

3. Enter a name and optional description for the profile.

4. Add custom or existing detection entries.

   Add a custom entry

   1. Select **Add custom entry** and give it a name.

   2. In **Value**, enter a regular expression (or regex) that defines the text pattern you want to detect. For example, `test\d\d` will detect the word `test` followed by two digits.

      * Regular expressions are written in Rust. We recommend validating your regex with [Rustexp](https://rustexp.lpil.uk/).
      * DLP detects UTF-8 characters, which can be up to 4 bytes each. Custom text pattern detections are limited to 1024 bytes in length.
      * DLP does not support regular expressions with `+` or `*` operators because they are prone to exceeding the length limit. For example, the regex pattern `a+` can detect an infinite number of `a` characters. We recommend using `a{min,max}` instead, such as `a{1,1024}`.

   3. To save the detection entry, select **Done**.

   Add existing entries

   Existing entries include [predefined](https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/policies/data-loss-prevention/dlp-profiles/predefined-profiles/) and [user-defined](https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/policies/data-loss-prevention/detection-entries/) detection entries.

   1. Select **Add existing entries**.
   2. Choose which entries you want to add, then select **Confirm**.
   3. To save the detection entry, select **Done**.

5. (Optional) Configure [**profile settings**](https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/policies/data-loss-prevention/dlp-profiles/advanced-settings/) for the profile.

6. Select **Save profile**.

You can now use this profile in a [DLP policy](https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/policies/data-loss-prevention/dlp-policies/#2-create-a-dlp-policy) or [CASB integration](https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/applications/casb/casb-dlp/).
