Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is any information that can be used to distinguish or trace a persons identity. It is a legal term that refers to data that can be used to identify a specific individual. Examples of PII include name, social security number, date and place of birth, mothers maiden name, biometric records, medical, educational, financial, and employment information.

Protecting PII is essential for personal privacy, data privacy, data protection, information privacy, and information security. With just a few bits of an individuals personal information, thieves can create false accounts in the persons name, incur debt, create a falsified passport, or sell a persons identity to a criminal. Sensitive PII is information that, when disclosed, could result in harm to the individual if a data breach occurs. This type of sensitive data often has legal, contractual, or ethical requirements for restricted disclosure. Sensitive PII should, therefore, be encrypted in transit and when data is at rest.

Not all personal data is considered PII. For example, data about a persons streaming habits isnt PII because it would be hard, if not impossible, to tell who someone is based solely on what theyve watched on Netflix. PII only refers to information that points to a particular person, like the kind of information you might supply to verify your identity when contacting your bank. Non-sensitive PII is often publicly available, such as telephone numbers listed in a phonebook or addresses listed in a local governments public property records. Some data privacy regulations dont require the protection of non-sensitive PII, but many companies put safeguards in place anyway.

In summary, PII is any information that can be used to distinguish or trace a persons identity. Protecting PII is essential for personal privacy, data privacy, data protection, information privacy, and information security.