Why is PII so important?
Importance of Safeguarding PII
Implementing adequate security measures to protect personally identifiable data can minimize risks, especially those related to theft, fraud, and breaches. It also helps maintain privacy, a vital component for building customer trust and loyalty. There's also the matter of compliance.
Is PII valuable?
Every business is responsible for keeping sensitive customer information private. Personally identifiable information (PII) is not only precious to your customers, but treating it carefully is important to ensure your company's reputation as a safe place to do business.
Is PII highly confidential?
At a minimum, Personally Identifiable Information (PII) must be treated as Internal Data, and elements of PII may be classified as Sensitive, Confidential, or High Risk Data.
Why is safeguarding personally identifiable information important at life time?
In summary, safeguarding PII at Life Time prevents identity theft, ensures legal compliance, and is a good business practice.
Where is PII valuable?
Personal Identifying Information (PII) is any type of data that can be used to identify someone, from their name and address to their phone number, passport information, and social security numbers. This information is frequently a target for identity thieves, especially over the Internet.
What impact level is PII?
Overview. The possible levels — low, moderate, and high — indicate the potential harm that could result to the subject individuals and/or the organization if the PII were inappropriately accessed, used, or disclosed.
Why is it important to secure PII?
Protecting your Personally Identifiable Information
This information needs to be protected in order to prevent that data being misused by third parties for fraud, such as phishing scams and identity theft.
Is it OK to email PII?
No, you should never send PII over email. However, if you must send PII over email, it needs to be encrypted and certain security protocols must be met to ensure that if it's intercepted, the PII won't be readable.
Is PII the least valuable type of information?
PII is the most commonly available and least regulated type of data, and may or may not be sensitive — or may be considered sensitive only under certain circumstances, or when combined with other data about an individual.
Is PII a GDPR?
All PII can be personal data but not all personal data is considered as PII. Personal information in the context of the GDPR covers a broader range of information and some of this data is not considered PII . Therefore, to comply with the GDPR you need to look at the broader context of what personal data is.
Is PII safe?
Some PII is not sensitive, such as that found on a business card. Other PII is Sensitive PII, which if lost, compromised, or disclosed without authorization, could result in substantial harm, embarrassment, inconvenience, or unfairness to an individual. Sensitive PII requires stricter handling guidelines.
Why is PII sensitive?
Sensitive PII is sensitive information that directly identifies an individual and could cause significant harm if leaked or stolen.
How do I keep PII safe?
Info such as business phone numbers and race, religion, gender, workplace, and job titles are typically not considered PII. But they should still be treated as sensitive, linkable info because they could identify an individual when combined with other data.
What is not an example of PII?
Governments publicly collect PII to extend social and legal benefits, such as improving social services and when fulfilling legal obligations.
Why is PII collected?
The biggest consequence of not protecting your PII is identity theft, which can lead to difficulty getting jobs, loans, and leases along with financial losses.
Is PII identity theft?
Personal identification numbers: social security number (SSN), passport number, driver's license number, taxpayer identification number, patient identification number, financial account number, or credit card number. Personal address information: street address, or email address. Personal telephone numbers.
What is the most common PII?
PII collected from the consumer, including name, email address, telephone number, application ID number, addresses, or other notes must be stored securely. o If in hard copy, PII should be stored in locked filing cabinets or within locked offices where the paper filing system is maintained.
What are the best practices for PII?
In conclusion, protecting PII is a shared responsibility that involves individuals, organizations, and governments. Individuals must take steps to protect their own PII, while organizations must implement data security measures and policies to safeguard PII.
Who is responsible for PII?
NIST SP 800-122 — Guide to Protecting the Confidentiality of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) This document by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) uses a broad definition of PII in order to identify as many potential PII sources as possible in order to protect this information.
What is the NIST guide for PII?
Likewise, organizations may experience harm as a result of a loss of PII maintained by the organization. Harm may include administrative burden, remediation costs, financial losses, loss of public reputation and public trust, and legal liability.
What are the consequences of not protecting PII?
However, when paired with a date of birth or address, it becomes a more explicit identifier. In the context of businesses, especially those in the marketing domain, PII can be a powerful tool. It helps organizations understand their customers on a deeper level, tailor their outreach, and optimize customer experiences.
How do companies use PII?
The following types of PII are considered sensitive when associated with an individual: Social Security Number (including truncated form), place of birth, date of birth, mother's maiden name, biometric information, medical information (excluding brief references to absences from work), personal financial information, ...
Is birthplace a PII?
Sensitive PII—such as passport, driver's license or Social Security numbers—however, requires encryption in transit as well as at rest to prevent harm being caused to the individual if their PII ends up in the wrong hands.
Does all PII need to be encrypted?
Data-at-Rest Encryption: Even while static and stored, PII must be encrypted.
Should PII be encrypted?
A password is not considered PII because it's not something that can be used to identify a person. By contrast, all the others you're listing can be used to do that. Also, notice there are different levels of PII.
Are passwords considered PII?
The PII confidentiality impact level—low, moderate, or high— indicates the potential harm that could result to the subject individuals and/or the organization if PII were inappropriately accessed, used, or disclosed.
What are the three levels of PII?
Personally identifying information (PII) is any information that distinguishes an individual from another person. Your name, date of birth, Social Security number and biometrics are all examples of PII. Identity thieves use stolen PII to impersonate you, so it's vital that you take steps to keep your information safe.
Is birth month and day considered PII?
PII is a legal term, not a technical one, and its meaning and connotations vary depending on the jurisdiction and context within which it is used.
Is PII a legal concept?
GDPR establishes a clear distinction between sensitive personal data and non-sensitive personal data. Examples of non-sensitive data would include gender, date of birth, place of birth and postcode. Although this type of data isn't sensitive, it can be combined with other forms of data to identify an individual.
Is gender personal data?
According to the NIST PII Guide, the following items definitely qualify as PII, because they can unequivocally identify a human being: full name (if not common), face, home address, email, ID number, passport number, vehicle plate number, driver's license, fingerprints or handwriting, credit card number, digital ...
Are signatures considered PII?
When cybercriminals steal PII, they can: Steal your identity. If fraudsters have your full name and SSN, they could apply for loans or access your bank accounts. Many criminals combine real PII and fake details to create synthetic identities, which are harder for authorities to detect.
What do hackers do with PII?
Compromised PII can be used or sold for identity theft schemes and other fraudulent activities, such as draining your bank account, running up charges on your credit cards, opening new accounts, and filing a tax refund in your name to steal your refund.
What can happen if PII is stolen?
Common PII Cybersecurity Risks
Some common methods of PII compromise include: Data Breaches: Unauthorized access to databases or systems containing PII, often due to weak security measures or insider threats. Phishing Attacks: Deceptive emails or messages tricking individuals into revealing PII.
Which are the two risks to PII?
Sensitive PII, when compromised and combined with your name, can make you vulnerable to cybercrimes such as identity theft. Non-sensitive PII can also make you vulnerable, especially when combined with sensitive PII.
Why is PII bad?
At a minimum, Personally Identifiable Information (PII) must be treated as Internal Data, and elements of PII may be classified as Sensitive, Confidential, or High Risk Data.
Is PII highly confidential?
Some information that is considered to be PII is available in public sources such as telephone books, public websites, and university listings.
Can public data be PII?
The loss of PII can result in substantial harm to individuals, including identity theft or other fraudulent use of the information.
Why is it important to protect PII?
Every organization stores and uses personally identifiable information (PII), whether on its employees or customers. As enterprises collect, process, and store PII, they also inherit responsibility for protecting it. Doing so ensures the integrity of individuals' identities while protecting your company's reputation.
Why should PII be protected?
There is no specific time frame for how long companies are required to retain personally identifiable information (PII), which undoubtedly creates confusion. In essence, data retention is at your discretion, depending on your own data retention policies internally.
How long can you keep PII data?
What is non-PII? Non-personally identifiable information (non-PII) is data that cannot be used on its own to trace, or identify a person. Examples of non-PII include, but are not limited to: Aggregated statistics on the use of product / service.
What is the opposite of PII?
From a zoomed-out perspective, the greatest difference between personal data and PII is that PII is often used to differentiate one person from another, while personal data includes any information related to a living individual, whether it distinguishes them from another individual or not.
What is the difference between PII and personal data?
Data security is an essential foundation for effective data privacy. It ensures that personal data is protected from unauthorized access and misuse, allowing organizations to comply with regulations, maintain trust, and uphold ethical data handling practices.
What is more important data privacy or security?
PII is the most commonly available and least regulated type of data, and may or may not be sensitive — or may be considered sensitive only under certain circumstances, or when combined with other data about an individual.
Is PII the least valuable type of information?
Sensitive PII is sensitive information that directly identifies an individual and could cause significant harm if leaked or stolen.
Why is PII sensitive?
Some PII is not sensitive, such as that found on a business card. Other PII is Sensitive PII, which if lost, compromised, or disclosed without authorization, could result in substantial harm, embarrassment, inconvenience, or unfairness to an individual. Sensitive PII requires stricter handling guidelines.
Is PII safe?
Sensitive personally identifiable information can include your full name, Social Security Number, driver's license, financial information, and medical records. Non-sensitive personally identifiable information is easily accessible from public sources and can include your zip code, race, gender, and date of birth.
What is the most sensitive PII?
Info such as business phone numbers and race, religion, gender, workplace, and job titles are typically not considered PII. But they should still be treated as sensitive, linkable info because they could identify an individual when combined with other data.
What isn't an example of PII?
The biggest consequence of not protecting your PII is identity theft, which can lead to difficulty getting jobs, loans, and leases along with financial losses.
What are the top 3 action items to protect PII?
Yes, it is legal for companies to collect data about their customers and users, as long as they are transparent about their data collection practices and obtain consent from the individuals whose data they are collecting.
How do you minimize PII?
A good PII inventory will help you review the types of personal data you collect, where you store it, how long you keep it, and who can access it. Creating a data inventory will help you identify potential risks to data privacy and security and correct them.
Is PII identity theft?
PII, or personal identifiable information, includes any type of data that can be traced back to a specific individual. This can include location data, contact information, or identification info such as a name or social security number. Keeping PII private is important to ensure the integrity of your identity.
Can companies collect PII?
Governments publicly collect PII to extend social and legal benefits, such as improving social services and when fulfilling legal obligations.
Should an organization have PII inventory?
Likewise, organizations may experience harm as a result of a loss of PII maintained by the organization. Harm may include administrative burden, remediation costs, financial losses, loss of public reputation and public trust, and legal liability.