Personally identifiable information (PII)

Personally Identifiable Information (PII) refers to any data that can be used to identify an individual—either on its own or when combined with other data. PII includes names, addresses, email addresses, government-issued IDs, phone numbers, and financial or health records.

About Personally identifiable information (PII)

What qualifies as PII?

PII includes both direct identifiers (like a Social Security number or passport ID) and indirect identifiers (such as date of birth, IP address, or geolocation data) that can be used in combination to identify someone. The definition varies slightly depending on the legal framework, but generally covers any information that can be linked to a specific person.

Why is PII so sensitive?

Because PII is tied to a real person, it can be exploited for identity theft, fraud, and social engineering. The exposure of PII through data breaches or poor data handling practices can result in significant harm to individuals and heavy penalties for organizations under laws like GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA.

What are the most common challenges with this topic?

The primary challenges include securely storing and managing PII, classifying what counts as PII across jurisdictions, and limiting unnecessary data collection. Businesses often struggle with access controls, retention policies, and encryption—especially when integrating with third-party systems. Additionally, user consent and transparency are increasingly complex to maintain at scale. --- ###

Secure verifications for every industry

We provide templated identity verification workflows for common industries and can further design tailored workflows for your specific business.