The Importance Of Personally Identifiable Information

What is Personally Identifiable Information (PII)?

Personally Identifiable Information is information which can be used to identify an individual, such as Social Security Number, one’s Full name, address, phone number, etc. This information can be categorized into two groups, Sensitive PII or non-sensitive PII and can be obtained by third parties when using websites, or it can be intentionally sent by an individual. (Macdonald & Streatfeild, 2014)

This Personally Identifiable Information can be saved on both papers and documents or digitally on electronic devices (Guidance on the Protection of Personal Identifiable Information, 2015). PII “transcends geographic boundaries, companies buy, sell, process, and store volumes of personal data

Not protecting ones Personally Identifiable information can have great consequences. Sensitive Personally Identifiable Information can become public by being hacked on the computer, smartphone or tablet. This may grant the hacker access to, among other things, the individuals name, address, Social Security number, bank information. If the hacker or the person that has gained access to this personal information, it is no problem to steal the hacked persons identity and commit crimes, steal their money, or put them in dept.

Furthermore, someone might now be able to post from the strangers social media sites which can cause someone their job if something especially degrading or embarrassing is said. Once these harmful things have been posted, it is hard to erase it all again and the person affected might always have to worry about such an incident.

When companies lose acces to the PII of their customers can also be very harmful as it is not just retail companies that require the PII of their customers. Lawyers and Doctors and many more also have very personal PII such as medical records or financial profiles. (Macdonald & Streatfeild,

Companies with employees which have to work with personal information of customers, require their workers to also agree to certain terms and that it will have severe consequences if these rules aren’t followed. Also, as stated on the United States Department of Labor, companies should require their employees to request permission if they plan on taking information outside of the office. (Guidance on the Protection of Personal Identifiable Information, 2015)

Furthermore, to prevent identity theft or compromising of PII, passwords are codes should never be written down, where they are used, and all electronic devices should be passcode secured, in case of theft of the devices and Papers or documents containing Personally Identifiable Information should always be shredded. And do not give out PII to anyone, whether it be friend or family.

What to do when Personally Identifiable Information has been