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.
As we share an increasing amount of personal information online, we create more opportunities for threat actors to steal our identities.
Luxottica has confirmed one of its partners suffered a data breach in 2021 that exposed the personal information of 70 million customers after a database was posted this month for free on hacking forums. [...]
Not the first time Uncle Sam has had the wheels come off its IT systems A US Department of Transportation computer system used to reimburse federal employees for commuting costs somehow suffered a security breach that exposed the personal info for 237,000 current and former workers.…
Not the first time Uncle Sam has had the wheels come off its IT systems A US Department of Transportation computer system used to reimburse federal employees for commuting costs somehow suffered a security breach that exposed the personal info for 237,000 current and former workers.…
Relatives are being alerted that a PharMerica compromise exposed the sensitive data of their deceased loved ones, which could be used for identity theft.