Nightfall Detection Rules: How to Increase the Confidence of a Custom RegEx Detector

Last updated: January 29, 2026

Purpose

To increase the confidence of a custom RegEx detector and have the option to use "Very Likely" confidence

Environment

  • Nightfall Web Console: Detection

    • Detectors

Resolution

To increase the confidence for of a custom Detector, include a context rule that captures words or phrases commonly found near the RegEx match. This up-weights the finding and reduces false positives.

Example

Prescription Numbers typically follow the format RX-###-YYYY-## and often appear near keywords such as “Prescription Number,” “Prescription#,” “PN,” “Medication,” “Med,” or “RX.”

In this case, use:
• Create a regex detector:
 RX-\d{3}-(19|20)\d{2}-\d{2}
• Add a context rule that looks for:
 (Prescription Number|Prescription#|PN|Medication|Med|RX)
 within 25 characters of the detected entity and changes the Confidence to Very Likely.

image.png