PII covers information that identifies people, making its collection, storage, and disclosure central to privacy protection and breach response.
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Background for this topic.
PII (personally identifiable information) is information that identifies a person directly or can do so when combined with other data. Direct identifiers include names, government identification numbers, passport details, and email addresses; indirect identifiers can include birth dates, precise location, or unique account attributes. The term is used broadly in security, but its legal scope varies: laws and regulations may use different definitions, such as “personal data” under the GDPR or protected health information under HIPAA.
PII is a high-value target because unauthorized access or disclosure can enable identity fraud, targeted phishing, or privacy harm. It may be exposed through compromised applications, cloud storage, logs, endpoints, or third parties. Practitioners should inventory and classify it, collect and retain only what is needed, restrict access, and protect it with encryption or tokenization where appropriate. Monitoring and tested procedures for investigating exposure are important, while retention, deletion, and notification duties depend on the applicable jurisdiction and sector.
Hackers stole the personal information of over 17.6 million people after breaching the systems of financial services company Prosper. [...]
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) in the UK has fined Capita, a provider of data-driven business process services, £14 million ($18.7 million) for a data breach incident in 2023 that exposed the personal information of 6.6 million people. [...]
Spanish fashion retailer MANGO is sending notices of a data breach to its customers, warning that its marketing vendor suffered a compromise exposing personal data. [...]