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Cambium Data has been serving the Omaha area since 2009, providing IT Support such as technical helpdesk support, computer support, and consulting to small and medium-sized businesses.
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# What is Personally Identifiable Information?
[Cambium Data Blog](https://cambiumdata.directivesites.com/blog/categories/blog) [Security](https://cambiumdata.directivesites.com/blog/categories/security)
[Tony Underwood](https://cambiumdata.directivesites.com/blog/blogger/tony-underwood)
Monday, 20 May 2024
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Personally identifiable information—or PII—is critically important data for individuals and businesses, not only because operations rely on many of these data points but there are also significant circumstances for losing it. Of course, to properly protect PII, you need to know what the umbrella term of PII includes.
## What Counts as PII?
According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Computer Security Resource Center (CSRC) PII includes:
[“Any representation of information that permits the identity of an individual to whom the information applies to be reasonably inferred by either direct or indirect means.”](https://csrc.nist.gov/glossary/term/PII)
So, let’s say your business had collected data on a user named James Jones. We’ll run through a few examples of what would qualify as James Jones’ PII.
### Examining Personally Identifiable Information
In the case of James Jones, your business would be on the hook for losing his data if that data included the following:
- **His name**
- **His address**
- **His phone number**
- **His personal identification numbers**
- **His information that identifies his property**
- **His personal features**
- **His asset information**
### Other Information Can Be Combined to Create PII
Even if you’ve secured all of James Jones’ above information, you may not be off the hook. More data can be identified as PII if combined with other forms, like the following:
- **His date and place of birth**
- **His race**
- **His religion**
- **His weight**
- **His activities**
- **His geographic location**
- **His employment history**
- **His medical data**
- **His educational history**
- **His financial data**
- **His family information**
So, if someone were to collect James Jones’ employment history and family information, they now have enough to classify as PII.
## PII is Critical to Protect… Are You Prepared?
If not, reach out to Cambium Data! We can help assess your business’ cybersecurity and data handling habits… and, more importantly, help you correct any issues we find. Give us a call at (402) 514-3200 to get started.
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Tags:
[Data](https://cambiumdata.directivesites.com/blog/tags/data) [Security](https://cambiumdata.directivesites.com/blog/tags/security) [Privacy](https://cambiumdata.directivesites.com/blog/tags/privacy)
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About the author
[  ](https://cambiumdata.directivesites.com/blog/blogger/tony-underwood)
[Tony Underwood](https://cambiumdata.directivesites.com/blog/blogger/tony-underwood)
[ ](https://cambiumdata.directivesites.com/blog/blogger/tony-underwood)
Tony Underwood, Founder and President of Cambium Data Inc. has proven himself as one of the top internetworking experts in the industry. Mr. Underwood began his IT career in 1991 in the US Navy working on critical military computer systems. He grew his computer and networking knowledge through a number of different IT jobs from desktop support all the way up to leading the Network Engineering organization of a multi-billion dollar international company. Mr Underwood was recognized as Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert [\#7112](https://connect.directive.com/v4_6_release/services/system_io/Service/fv_sr100_request.rails?service_recid=7112&companyName=Dti) in March of 2001 and in 2022 he achieved the lifetime status of Cisco CCIE Emeritus
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