Personally Identifiable Information (PII)

Personally identifiable information (PII) is any data that could be used, alone or combined with other information, to identify a specific individual. This includes obvious identifiers like full names, Social Security or national ID numbers, and addresses, as well as less obvious ones like IP addresses, biometric data, or device identifiers.

PII is a primary target in data breaches because it enables identity theft↗, fraud, and targeted scams. Regulations like GDPR and various national privacy laws impose strict rules on how organizations must collect, store, and protect PII, with significant penalties for mishandling it.