Personally identifiable information (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.

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.

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. --- ###