What is PII?

The digital landscape continues to evolve and it is critical to keep up with technology and the legal repercussions. Here is a quick overview of what PII Personal Identifiable Information is and if you are collecting data why you need to be aware of it.

Personal Identifiable Information (PII) refers to any information that can be used to identify an individual, either on its own or when combined with other available data. This includes, but is not limited to, a person's name, social security number, date of birth, address, phone number, email address, and even biometric data. PII is extremely valuable and sensitive because it holds the power to expose someone's identity, potentially leading to financial fraud, identity theft, or other forms of personal harm.

Part of the problem when trying to understand PII is what specifically someone is referring to as PII. Different organizations and governing bodies are vague when they speak about PII but the take away is it is information that can identify someone.

To add further confusion to the PII conversations is Sensitive PII and Non-sensitive PII. Think of sensitive information as information that could cause substantial harm to the individual. Think things like your credit card information. While on the other hand we have non-sensitive information such as your birthday where people can find this information in public records.