(00)Home / Product / Watermarking

When a confidential document leaks, Obscura can show you who downloaded that copy and when.

When marking is switched on, the copies that people download from Obscura carry hidden marks that the reader does not notice. If a screenshot of the document turns up online later, you can run the image back through Obscura and see who downloaded that copy and when.

  • Downloads
  • Share-link downloads
  • Issued copies
  • Signed copies

(01)One leaked copy

Follow one copy of a vendor agreement as it leaks online and is traced back to its recipient.

  1. 01 / 05

    Download

    R. Santoso from Procurement opens the agreement in Obscura and downloads it, and the issuance ledger records that copy as #0417.

  2. 02 / 05

    Hidden marks

    Before the file leaves Obscura, it receives hidden marks that do not show in normal reading, so the page looks like any other copy.

  3. 03 / 05

    Screenshot and crop

    Weeks later, the recipient takes a screenshot of the payment clauses and crops it, but three paragraphs of body text stay in the image.

  4. 04 / 05

    Shared until it goes viral

    An anonymous account posts the cropped image, and people repost and copy it until thousands have seen it.

  5. 05 / 05

    Traced back

    Your team saves the image file from the post and drops it into Obscura, which names the person who downloaded that copy and when.

    The console returns Confirmed, because a valid watermark matched an issued copy. The copy went to R. Santoso in Procurement, who downloaded version 2 of the Vendor Services Agreement on 3 Nov 2026 at 21:47.

    Tracing works best on the original file or on a clear screenshot that shows at least two paragraphs of body text. Results depend on how much text survives and how heavily the image was recompressed, and photos of a screen are not supported.

(02)The mark

A marked copy reads like any other copy, while the hidden marks travel with it wherever it goes.

Your readers see an ordinary document, and they can still select and copy its text.

Preview inside Obscura · visible

Inside Obscura, readers see a visible watermark with their own name, their email and the time.

File that leaves Obscura · invisible

Downloads, share-link downloads, issued copies and signed copies carry hidden marks instead.

(03)Ledger and verdict

Every marked copy is recorded, so a leaked copy leads back to a named person and a time.

The ledger shows who received each copy, with the document, its version, the channel, the time, the IP address and the device. Even if the ledger is lost, a marked copy still shows the recipient and the day.

A sample issuance ledger with four copies of the Vendor Services Agreement
CopyRecipientDocumentChannelIssuedIP addressDevice
#0415D. Wulandarid.wulandari@contoh.co.idVSA-2026-014 v2Signed copy3 Nov 2026 16:0210.20.3.58Edge on Windows
#0416PT Sarana Datalegal@saranadata.exampleVSA-2026-014 v2Share3 Nov 2026 18:30203.0.113.24Safari on macOS
#0417R. Santosor.santoso@contoh.co.idVSA-2026-014 v2Download3 Nov 2026 21:4710.20.4.17Chrome on Windows
#0418Finance archivearchive@contoh.co.idVSA-2026-014 v2Issue4 Nov 2026 09:1510.20.1.9Chrome on Windows

Illustration with sample data

You upload the copy that you found as a PDF, JPG, PNG or WebP, and Obscura answers with one of three verdicts.

  1. Confirmed

    A valid watermark matched an issued copy.

  2. Likely

    The copy probably matches an issued copy, so your team treats it as a lead and checks it.

  3. Inconclusive

    Too little of the copy survived to name a recipient.

Only people with the investigate permission can trace a copy.

(04)What it can trace

Tracing works best on the original file or a clear screenshot, and some copies cannot be traced.

Works

  • The original or a forwarded PDF

    About one paragraph of the file is enough.

  • A clear screenshot

    It should show about two paragraphs of body text, and dense layouts need fewer.

  • A cropped screenshot

    It works as long as enough lines of body text remain inside the crop.

Not supported or not measured yet

  • A photo of a screen

    Tracing does not work on a photo taken of a monitor or a phone.

  • A printed and scanned copy

    We have not measured printouts that are scanned back in.

  • Images that apps recompress

    We have not measured how each social media or messaging app affects tracing, so we test the channels that matter to you on your own documents.

(05)Your controls

Your administrators decide which documents are marked and what happens when a file cannot be marked.

  1. Off until you switch it on

    Marking is off by default, and administrators choose which documents carry the mark.

  2. Blocked or released

    When a download cannot be marked, your policy decides whether Obscura blocks it or releases it without the mark.

  3. Investigators only

    Only people with the investigate permission can trace a copy and see who it was issued to.

Module · Watermarking

Watermarking is a separately licensed module that you add to Obscura.

Trace one of your own documents

Bring one confidential document, and we will trace a leaked copy of it with you.

We mark a sample of your own documents and take screenshots the way someone might share them. Then we run them through the console together, so you see the results on your own layouts.

Capabilities depend on the modules you choose.