PII & privacy glossary
Plain-English definitions of PII, PHI, de-identification, masking and more.
Glossary
What Is PII (Personally Identifiable Information)?
PII (Personally Identifiable Information) is any data that can identify a specific person, alone or combined with other data. It includes direct identifiers like full name, email, phone number, address, and account or card numbers, plus indirect identifiers like birth date or IP address that single someone out.
Glossary
PII vs PHI vs PCI: What's the Difference?
PII is any data that identifies a person (name, email, address). PHI is health data tied to a person under HIPAA. PCI is payment card data governed by PCI DSS. PHI and PCI are specialized subsets of PII, each carrying its own laws, scope, and penalties.
Glossary
Redaction vs Anonymization vs Pseudonymization
Redaction removes or masks sensitive data, often replacing it with a label like [EMAIL]. Anonymization permanently strips data so a person cannot be re-identified by anyone. Pseudonymization swaps identifiers for reversible tokens, so re-identification stays possible with a separate key. Redaction is a method; anonymization and pseudonymization are outcomes.
Glossary
What is de-identification?
De-identification is the process of removing, masking, or altering personal identifiers in data so an individual cannot be readily identified. It covers techniques like redaction, masking, pseudonymization, and generalization. Common identifiers include names, emails, phone numbers, addresses, dates, and account numbers. It reduces re-identification risk but rarely eliminates it.
Glossary
HIPAA Safe Harbor and the 18 Identifiers
HIPAA Safe Harbor is one of two methods to de-identify protected health information (PHI) under the Privacy Rule. It requires removing 18 specific identifier types, such as names, dates, geographic data smaller than a state, phone numbers, and record numbers, plus no actual knowledge the data can re-identify someone.
Glossary
What Is Data Masking?
Data masking is a data protection method that replaces real sensitive data, such as names, emails, and card numbers, with realistic but fake values. The masked data keeps the same format and looks usable, so teams can run software, tests, and analytics without exposing the original personal or confidential information.
Glossary
Examples of PII (Personally Identifiable Information)
Examples of PII (personally identifiable information) include full names, email addresses, phone numbers, postal addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, passport and driver's license numbers, credit card and bank account numbers, IP addresses, and biometric data. Any data that identifies a specific person, alone or combined, counts as PII.