Personally Identifiable Information (PII) refers to any data that your business gathers or handles that can be used to trace the identity of your consumers. This information ranges from simple names to highly sensitive financial or health information like credit card digits and biometrics.
Should such sensitive consumer information go into the wrong hands via a mistake due to a lack of security measures and access controls, the repercussions are immense. Many data protection laws like the GDPR or CPRA have strict mandates on how such PII data is to be handled, stored, or processed.
Meet Captain Compliance, your trusted partner in data compliance services, where our mission is to help businesses safely manage and safeguard their data in a legally sound way.
Key Takeaways
- PII Data should be safeguarded in varying degrees based on its sensitivity level, and resources from your businesses ought to prioritize this data differently. Having systems in place to report and spot data flow irregularities can serve to mitigate the severity and lessen response times.
- Data mapping is crucial for understanding the flow and lifecycle of PII within your business. It helps in identifying data collection points, user flows, third-party risks, and data interdependencies, which are essential for conducting effective Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs).
- Incorporating PII security training into employee onboarding and regular training programs is key to establishing a strong data privacy culture. This training ensures staff understand the importance of protecting PII and staying updated on evolving threats and compliance requirements
Defining PII Data
By going thoroughly into the definition of what PII data encapsulates, as given by the U.S. Department of Labor, we quickly realize that it’s not so simple to conclude where the boundary ends of identifiable information. Essentially, any data that can be pieced together to contact or reach a person online or physically is deemed as personally identifiable information.
Understanding PII Data Sensitivity: Categorizing Types of Sensitive Information
Sensitive personal information (SPI), on the other hand, is any information that can be used beyond just identifying a person. Emails, phone numbers, and names might be publicly available, but data such as Social Security numbers or IBAN and private data go a step beyond PII.
Data that can have significant repercussions if exposed, like financial information, can pose a serious life-changing threat if leaked or improperly handled. For this reason, any business handling either SPI or PII must have security measures of varying strengths to achieve corporate compliance.
We have a separate in-depth guide if you want to learn the difference between PII and SPI data.
The Vulnerability of PII to Unauthorized Access and Misuse
It is difficult to put in perspective just how broad of a spectrum there is when it comes to sensitive consumer data. In the event of a data breach, the effect and exposure, alongside the fines and penalties, vary dramatically in size and severity.
Here are three real-world examples to better illustrate the spectrum of PII data breaches, their consequences, and what happened later in terms of associated fines:
- Equifax Data Breach (2017): This breach exposed sensitive information of approximately 147 million consumers, including Social Security numbers, birth dates, and addresses. The consequences were massive, leading to identity theft and financial fraud. Equifax agreed to a global settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and 50 U.S. states and territories, which included up to $425 million to help people affected by the data breach.
- Marriott International (2018): This breach affected up to 383 million guests, with attackers accessing information, including names, mailing addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, passport numbers, and travel information. Marriott faced hefty fines under the GDPR, reportedly over £99 million, due to the mishandling of customer data.
- Yahoo (2014): In one of the largest breaches in history, 3 billion Yahoo accounts were compromised. The breach included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, and, in some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers. Yahoo faced a $35 million penalty by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for failing to disclose the breach to investors in a timely manner.
From these three examples, we can see that not all information shares the same sensitivity, as receiving spam emails or unwanted phone calls is not on the same level as having stolen funds or savings.
Typically, businesses have dedicated internal departments that are purpose-built to monitor and prevent any data breach security threats.
However, with many shifts in existing regulations going into 2024, it becomes difficult to keep track. In this case, having to outsource compliance becomes a lucrative option to help you keep track of such evolving data laws.
PII Data Breaches: Impact on Individuals and Organizations
We have discussed how individuals can be impacted via unauthorized access to their data, but the impact of PII data breaches extends far beyond the individuals to the businesses themselves.
- Regulatory violations can lead to hefty fines under laws like GDPR and CPRA, with GDPR fines reaching up to €20 million or 4% of annual global turnover.
- Additionally, breaches result in the loss of consumer trust and reputation, which can be challenging to rebuild.
- For instance, a Salesforce survey found that nearly half of consumers lost trust in brands due to misuse of personal information.
Moreover, the consequences of a breach can extend into the future, impacting an organization’s earning capacity, with lost business representing a significant portion of breach costs.
The Legal and Reputational Consequences of Inadequate PII Security
With the average cost of a data breach in 2023 being around USD 4.5 million, having a robust compliance framework is not only a way to build consumer trust but also a necessity.
Inadequate PII security can lead to severe legal and reputational consequences. Failure to protect PII effectively results in hefty regulatory fines and potential litigation.
For example, from an incident report of the GDPR register, British Airways faced a €20 million fine and additional litigation costs for a breach exposing the PII of over 400,000 customers.
Rebuilding trust once lost is a monumental task, often more challenging than recovering from immediate financial losses.
Effective PII protection requires a comprehensive strategy, including these key elements:
- Regular training
- Strong technical defenses
- Application security controls
- End-point detection
- Vulnerability assessments
- Multi-factor authentication
- Data Mapping & Data Discovery
Additionally, businesses must consider third-party risks, ensure appropriate data security measures are in place, and integrate security incident management with wider crisis management. Learn more about the importance of conducting a thorough third-party vendor risk assessment.
Core Principles of PII Security
When it comes to pre-established best practices, we can look toward the GDPR for guidance, as this regulation has captured the essence of the core values in a very concise manner:
- Lawfulness, Fairness, and Transparency: Data processing should be lawful, fair, and transparent to the data subject.
- Purpose Limitation: Personal data should be collected for specified, explicit, and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner incompatible with those purposes.
- Data Minimization: Collection of personal data must be adequate, relevant, and limited to what is necessary for the purposes for which they are processed.
- Accuracy: Personal data should be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date.
- Storage Limitation: Personal data should be kept in a form that permits identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the personal data are processed.
- Integrity and Confidentiality: Personal data should be processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security, including protection against unauthorized or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction, or damage, using appropriate technical or organizational measures.
- Accountability: The controller is responsible for and must be able to demonstrate compliance with the other data protection principles.
While the GDPR applies to businesses that handle the data of residents of the European Union, many of these pillars can be of great help when establishing your data compliance solutions.
Now that you are better aware of the core principles that apply to sensitive consumer information let’s examine how data mapping plays a role in safeguarding PII data in your business data repositories.
Data Mapping and Inventory
Data mapping is crucial for understanding how PII moves within your business. It involves creating a detailed inventory of the personal data that a business collects, processes, stores, and shares, and it’s a technique used to track the information flow throughout.
This process clarifies what types of data are being processed, reveals the journey data takes through different departments and systems, exposes any third-party services or partners with whom data is shared, and is essential for Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs).
Data mapping is a vital part of your arsenal of compliance solutions in assessing the risks associated with data collection, understanding user flows, assessing third-party risks, discovering data interdependencies, and highlighting the data lifecycle.
Building a Comprehensive Inventory of PII Assets
Creating a comprehensive inventory of PII assets is the first step in building a PII catalog. It involves generating a dynamic and easily navigable inventory of personal data without duplicating, moving, copying, or compromising that data.
The inventory should include where personal data records are located, their attributes and categorization, residency, the entity or individual with whom they are associated, and related metadata.
This process enables your business to manage, monitor, and protect personal data more effectively and serves as a foundational layer for understanding how data is associated with individuals and entities.
Utilizing Technology for Efficient Data Mapping and Monitoring
Modern technology plays a significant role in enhancing the efficiency of data mapping and monitoring. Automated data mapping, for instance, uses software tools and algorithms to automatically identify, match, and map data elements between different systems, which is much faster and more accurate than manual data mapping.
This automation is especially important when dealing with large volumes of complex data, as it saves time, reduces the risk of human error, and ensures accuracy and consistency in data mapping.
Automated data mapping is integral to effective data privacy governance and is necessary for complying with various data privacy regulations, identifying potential risks, and managing data subject rights efficiently.
Employee Training and Awareness – Educating Staff on the Sensitivity and Handling of PII Data
Educating staff about the sensitivity and proper handling of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is crucial.
Training should start with an overview of what constitutes PII and SPI, including their significance and the laws and policies governing their maintenance and protection.
- It’s essential to educate your employees on understanding the critical nature of PII, how to identify it, and the reasons for its protection.
- Further training and systems should be built in place to facilitate timely incident response and reporting.
- Train your staff members on the procedure if a leak occurs or to whom they can report a threat, suspicious email, or similar common data breach threat vectors.
This training often emphasizes the grave repercussions that can arise from unauthorized release or abuse of PII, both for the individual whose data is compromised and for the organization responsible for safeguarding it.
Integrating PII Security into Employee Onboarding Programs
Incorporating PII security training into employee onboarding programs is an effective strategy to ensure that new staff members are immediately aware of their responsibilities regarding data protection.
This approach helps establish a culture of data privacy from the onset of their employment, making them conscious of the importance of safeguarding sensitive information and the policies and procedures in place to ensure its protection.
Remember that regular training intervals refresh their knowledge and awareness and help them stay informed about the latest security practices and compliance requirements.
As education is among the primary preventative measures for data breaches (as they occur most frequently due to human nature or error), having a culture of accountability within your business and third-party vendors is crucial. You can read more on our guide to what an accountability framework is.
Closing
At Captain Compliance, we understand the intricacies of data regulations and how to apply them in a real-world environment. Our commitment stays toward helping businesses become compliant with any needed data laws by offering specialized tailor-made solutions.
Contact us to discuss how to safeguard your business and consumer data and mitigate risks associated with data breaches.
FAQs
What is Considered PII Data?
PII (Personally Identifiable Information) is data that can be used on its own or with other information to identify, contact, or locate an individual.
Learn about the difference between PII and SPI data in our dedicated guide.
What is An Example of a PII?
Examples of PII include full name, Social Security number, driver’s license number, bank account number, passport number, and email address.
Learn about the most common compliance gaps and the role of data in compliance.
What Are the 3 Classifications of Personal Identifiable Information?
PII is often classified into three categories:
- Personal Data: General information like names and addresses.
- Sensitive Personal Data: More private information, such as financial details or medical records.
- Restricted Data: Highly confidential data that requires special handling, like Social Security numbers or passwords.
Explore the steps to perform a Data Risk Assessment.
What is a PII Data Breach?
A PII data breach occurs when unauthorized individuals access, steal, or disclose personal information. This can lead to identity theft, financial loss, and other privacy concerns for the affected individuals.
Learn about which Data Protection Compliance Services are best for your business.
