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Governance, Risk, Audit & Privacy · Foundational

Personally Identifiable Information (PII)

Information that can be used to distinguish or trace an individual's identity, alone or combined with other information.

Definition

NIST SP 800-122 defines PII to include direct identifiers and linkable information such as date of birth or place of birth. US laws define personal information differently, so scope depends on the applicable law. Sensitive PII, such as SSNs and biometrics, requires stronger protection.

Example

A Social Security number combined with a name is sensitive PII.

Exam tip

PII (US term) and personal data (GDPR term) overlap but are not identical; GDPR's scope is broader.

Related terms