What qualifies as Personally Identifiable Information (PII)?

• A. PII is data that can expose the identity of an individual
• B. PII is only publicly available data
• C. PII excludes birth dates
• D. PII is only financial data

Answer: (A)

PII is data that can expose the identity of a person. This includes direct identifiers like a full name, home address, email, phone number, or government-issued IDs, as well as data that can reveal someone when combined with other information, such as a birth date, ZIP code, or an IP address. Because such data can be used to single someone out, it needs careful protection and handling.

The other ideas are too narrow: PII isn’t limited to publicly available data, birth dates are commonly considered PII, and PII isn’t restricted to financial information.