# Extracting data without saved \_source

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/extracting-data-without-saved-source/236342>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [June 9, 2020, 1:22pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/extracting-data-without-saved-source/236342 "2020-06-09T13:22:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![kosmakoff](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kosmakoff/32/69975_2.png) [@kosmakoff](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/kosmakoff)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2020, 1:22pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/extracting-data-without-saved-source/236342/1 "2020-06-09T13:22:46Z")

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Say I need to index documents containing sensitive information, which I would only like to search by, but not return in search results. I learned that I can disable the `_source` in index, so that nothing in document is returned back, but still can be searched for.

Now, the question is, in terms of data storage, can any indexed information be reverse-engineered and restored from data files, if any person with malicious intentions had direct access to those files?

Thanks in advance.

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**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2020, 2:07pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/extracting-data-without-saved-source/236342/2 "2020-06-09T14:07:45Z")

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> [@kosmakoff](#):
>
> Now, the question is, in terms of data storage, can any indexed information be reverse-engineered and restored from data files, if any person with malicious intentions had direct access to those files?

Yes. A tool like [Luke](https://github.com/DmitryKey/luke/) will be able to read the indexed values I think.

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2020, 2:07pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/extracting-data-without-saved-source/236342/3 "2020-07-07T14:07:49Z")

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