Sensitive information includes data whose exposure can enable identity theft, fraud, privacy violations, or targeted cyberattacks.
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Sensitive information is data whose unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or loss could harm people, organizations, or public interests. It can include personal identifiers, authentication secrets, financial and health records, proprietary business data, and information protected by law or contractual duty. Sensitivity depends on context: a data set may be restricted because of privacy obligations, competitive value, safety concerns, or national-security classification.
For security practitioners, the key issue is controlling the data throughout its lifecycle—from collection and use to storage, sharing, archiving, and deletion. Excessive privileges, exposed databases, insecure transfers, application logs, backups, and compromised accounts can all reveal sensitive data. Useful controls include data classification, least-privilege access, strong authentication, encryption in transit and at rest, retention limits, and monitoring for inappropriate access or transfer. A suspected exposure requires identifying what data was affected, preserving relevant evidence, containing access, and assessing privacy or regulatory notification duties.
A new information-stealing malware has set its sights on Apple's macOS operating system to siphon sensitive information from compromised devices
Microsoft has released an out-of-band update to address a privacy-defeating flaw in its screenshot editing tool for Windows 10 and Windows 11