What Is PII? A Human Guide to Personally Identifiable Information

We want to explain what PII is in another way. We wrote it for people who aren’t familiar with specific legal terminology, but who often work with documents, PDF files, contracts, invoices, medical records, screenshots, client documents, and other similar files on an everyday basis.

You will understand what PII is even if you are not a compliance officer and not part of a legal team in a big corporation.

So if you want to know what exactly counts as PII, what files are considered to contain this type of information, and how PII relates to you personally, you are reading the right material. In our article, we will break it down for you clearly and without too many legal terms.

PII stands for Personally Identifiable Information. In other words, it’s any data that can identify a specific person, either directly or indirectly. PII is information that can help someone understand who a real person is.

Sometimes it’s very obvious. Sometimes it’s not that easy. Very often, information that reveals a person’s identity can be found in places you don’t even think about.

This is because PII isn’t just about Social Security numbers, ID cards, or passports. It’s about any data that can reveal your identity, even small details that don’t seem important at first glance.

This is a very important part, because not all personally identifiable information looks the same. There are important distinctions between different types of PII.

The two main categories you should know about are direct identifiers and indirect identifiers.

Direct identifiers identify a person immediately, without any extra context or additional data.

The examples of direct identifiers include full names, passport numbers, Social Security numbers, ID numbers, driver’s license numbers, email addresses, phone numbers, and so on. If you see any of this information in a file, it means that this is definitely PII. You don’t have to analyze it, because this is exactly what personal data looks like.

Indirect identifiers don’t point directly to a person, but when they are combined with other data, it’s possible that they will reveal someone’s identity.

Examples include dates of birth, ZIP codes, IP addresses, job titles, company names, device IDs, locations, browser fingerprints, and so on. A combination of such indirect identifiers can easily lead to a data leak.

Usually, names are considered personally identifiable information, but sometimes it depends on context. Let’s compare two different situations.

For example, Susan Smith mentioned in a random post on social media without any extra details will not point to a specific person, because there can be many people with the same name.

But Susan Smith, who is a lead accountant at a certain corporation, was born in 1985, and has a specific email address, will definitely point to an exact person. In this case, this information will be considered PII.

So context can turn almost any data into personal information. If, for example, a name appears together with a location, a date, contact information, a job title, a company name, and so on, it means that you need to be careful with these details if you don’t want to identify a real person.

PII is very widespread, because it’s not something you can only see in specific closed databases. We deal with PII every day, especially if you’re someone who works with documents, contracts, or any other files that contain information about clients or subcontractors. Here are some common categories of PII.

PDFs are one of the most common PII carriers, because most files are shared in this convenient format.

If someone fills out a form and enters information about themselves, it will most likely contain PII.

Medical and educational records contain a lot of PII, and most of it is very sensitive.

For example, diagnoses, medical history, medical secrets, test results, student IDs, grades, exam results, and so on. This type of data is usually protected by strict laws and specific regulations. If such data is disclosed, it can lead to serious consequences for all parties involved in the process.

Not all personally identifiable information carries the same level of risk. To understand this difference, it’s important to distinguish these categories very clearly. Otherwise, it will be difficult to prioritize which data must be protected first.

Non-sensitive PII is information that can identify someone, but usually doesn’t cause serious harm on its own. For example, a name, email address, phone number, job title, and similar data are still personally identifiable information, but they carry lower risks compared to other categories of data.

Sensitive PII is data that, if leaked, can lead to serious consequences.

Yes, in most cases, email addresses are considered PII. Even a simple email address can identify a person, especially if it contains a name, surname, birth date, or other identifying details.

Work email addresses are among the most identifiable ones, because they usually include a real name, the name of the company, and a person’s role. That’s why corporate emails are often used as unique identifiers in security systems, and many privacy regulations treat email addresses as PII.

This often surprises people. Under regulations like GDPR, IP addresses are considered personal data because they can be linked to a specific user.

They can reveal approximate location and, when combined with other types of data, such as an email address or metadata, as they can help identify a person. Even if you don’t know who the person is immediately, identification is still possible.

So yes, IP addresses can be personally identifiable information.

Even if you are not working with governmental documents, not a lawyer, and not a medical worker, you should still care about PII.

From time to time, you deal with banks, collect documents, store them, share files in PDF and other formats, work with client data, visit different websites, and fill out online forms and applications.

This means that you handle PII anyway, whether you realize it or not. Because of that, you need to be responsible. Awareness is the key to safety. Most privacy issues don’t happen because people are careless, but because they don’t realize they are dealing with personal data.

There are different regulations that define what is considered PII, and they apply to different industries and regions. However, the core idea is the same everywhere. The main goal of these laws is to protect personal data.

Some of the most well-known regulations include GDPR. These laws apply in the European Union. They are very strict and can apply even if you are not located in the EU but handle data of EU users. GDPR covers a wide range of personal data, including passport numbers, email addresses, and many other identifiers.

CCPA/CPRA are regulations that apply to companies and individuals based in California. They are mostly focused on consumer rights. Transparency and control over personal data are among the main goals of these regulations.

HIPAA is a specific set of regulations that applies to the healthcare industry in the United States. Medical information, patient records, and test results are strongly protected under HIPAA, and these rules are considered extremely strict.

You don’t need to remember all legal nuances to understand how to protect PII. You just need to be aware that this type of data is regulated in every country, and if you ignore it, you can get into serious trouble.

Here is something many people don’t realize. PDFs seem very safe, but that’s not exactly true. They feel static, but in reality, they often contain hidden metadata, embedded text, scanned personal information, digital signatures, and other sensitive elements.

Sharing a PDF without proper redaction can mean that you unintentionally share PII. That’s why it’s important to take such files seriously and secure them properly. To do this, you need to use professional redaction tools like PDFized, which are designed for securing PDF files. Such tools allow you to completely remove sensitive data from documents. This means that even metadata is deleted, so no one can extract PII from your files.

At the same time, you always need to remember that context matters. The same data can become PII depending on how it is used and combined with other information.

These mistakes happen every day and can lead to very serious consequences.

You don’t need to be perfect. You just need to be systematic and consistent when developing habits that protect your data.

If you don’t need to know someone’s birthday, don’t ask for it. If you don’t need a person’s ID number, don’t collect it. The less data you have, the lower the risks you deal with.

All documents you work with should be handled securely and with limited access. Avoid sharing sensitive files publicly through open links. It’s also important to use trusted tools.

Before sharing a file, remove IDs, addresses, account numbers, signatures, and other sensitive details. Tools like PDFized help you do this correctly not just by covering information with a black box, but by completely removing it so it cannot be extracted.

Keeping PII forever is not a good idea. It increases long-term risks. If you no longer need the data, it’s better to delete it and let it go.

PII is information that can identify a real person. That’s why it deserves respect and protection. You don’t need to be a government worker or a privacy expert to handle personally identifiable information thoughtfully. What really matters is awareness: understanding what is considered PII and knowing how to redact documents properly.

Correct handling of personally identifiable information is not really about rules, laws, or compliance checklists. It’s about people. About real names and real lives, and about the harm that can happen when this data is exposed.

That’s why the basic standard for everyone should be simple: handle other people’s data the same way you would want your own data to be handled. Good luck!