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Commonly confused · Governance, Risk, Audit & Privacy

Anonymization vs Pseudonymization: What's the Difference?

Anonymization irreversibly removes the ability to identify individuals, so the data is no longer personal data under GDPR. Pseudonymization replaces identifiers with aliases or tokens but can be reversed with separately held information, so the data remains personal data.

Anonymization

Full definition
vs

Pseudonymization

Full definition
AnonymizationPseudonymization
Reversible?NoYes, with the additional key or mapping
Still personal data under GDPR?NoYes
Regulatory benefitFalls outside GDPR scopeRecognized safeguard that reduces risk
Data utilityLower, links to individuals lostHigher, records can be re-linked
TechniquesAggregation, generalization, k-anonymity, noiseTokenization, keyed hashing, ID replacement
RiskRe-identification if done poorlyKey compromise re-identifies everyone
Remember it

Anonymous can never be traced back; pseudonymous is just wearing a mask.

Exam tip

If a scenario says a lookup table is stored separately, the data is pseudonymized, not anonymized. Hashing an email address without a secret is usually not anonymization.

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