PII
Technology & Computing abbreviation · Cybersecurity
| Stands for | Personally identifiable information |
|---|---|
| Categories | Technology & Computing |
PII stands for Personally identifiable information, a cybersecurity abbreviation.
Any information that can identify a specific person, alone or combined with other data, such as names, Social Security numbers, email addresses, phone numbers, IP addresses or biometric records. Laws and security policies set strict rules for collecting, storing and sharing it.
Example: Mask all PII before copying production data into the test environment.
Usage notes
The term is mainly American; the EU's GDPR uses the broader "personal data". Breaches involving PII trigger notification laws in every US state. Data minimization, encryption and tokenization reduce exposure. Sensitive categories, such as health or financial data, face stricter rules under laws like HIPAA.
Related abbreviations
More cybersecurity abbreviations
- OTP – One-time password
- OWASP – Open Worldwide Application Security Project
- PAM – Privileged access management
- PCI DSS – Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard
- PFS – Perfect forward secrecy
- PGP – Pretty Good Privacy
- PKI – Public key infrastructure
- PUP – Potentially unwanted program
- RaaS – Ransomware as a service
- RADIUS – Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service
- RAT – Remote access trojan
- RBAC – Role-based access control