> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://help.nightfall.ai/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://help.nightfall.ai/detection_platform/overview.md).
# Overview
An introduction to the Nightfall Detection Platform.
Nightfall detection platform looks for sensitive data. When sensitive data is detected, a notification or automated remediation action is initiated. The detection platform consists of three components; **Detectors**, **Detection Rules**, and **Policies**.
A **Detector** is an entity that can detect the presence of sensitive data in publicly exposed entities. You can either use the default detectors provided by Nightfall or create your custom detectors.
A **Detection rule** is a group of detectors. Once you create your detectors or finalise the Nightfall detectors you wish to use, you can add them to a detection rule. You can customize the degree of weightage for each detector in a detection rule.
Once you finalize the creation of detection rules, you can add them to policies. A **Policy** consists of multiple detection rules. When a detector in any of the detection rules detects sensitive data, the Policy can trigger auto notifications to be sent to specific users, initiate automated remediation measures, and allow end-users to take remediation actions.
So, a Detector or a Detection rule do not have the ability to trigger alerts or take remediation steps by themselves, you need to add them to a policy.
The following diagram shows how you can leverage the three entities of the Nightfall Detection platform.
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