Improper Disposal of PII May Lead to Data Breach
Understand Personally Identifiable Information (PII), major breach incidents, and data disposal policies to ethically prevent PII breaches.
What is Personally Identifiable Information (PII)?
Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is information that, when used alone or combined with other records, can define or trace an individual. It comprises any factual or subjective information directly or indirectly associated with a person.
Types of PII Identifiers
PII may contain direct identifiers such as Social Security numbers, or quasi-identifiers such as race or date of birth, or a combination of both to successfully identify an individual.
Categories of PII Data
A wide array of sensitive and non-sensitive information forms part of personally identifiable information:
Personal Identifiers
Name, age, national identification numbers including driver's license, Social Security, and passport details.
Demographic Information
Race, national or ethnic origin, religion, marital or relationship status.
History Records
Medical, education, or employment history and business details.
Financial Information
Bank accounts, credit cards, investment portfolios, and financial transactions.
Biometric Data
DNA, digital identity including face and fingerprint recognition.
Digital Credentials
Login credentials, evaluations, comments, or opinions of an individual as employee.
Daunting Incidents of PII Breach
A PII Breach occurs when an unauthorized party gains access to sensitive, confidential information and discloses it. Lack of data security measures and inappropriate IT asset handling during disposal leads to major PII breaches.
NHS Computer Sale
NHS computers with patient data were sold on eBay, exposing sensitive health information to unauthorized buyers.
U.S. Veterans Affairs
Personal electronic data of millions of U.S. veterans was compromised due to improper handling of IT assets.
Morgan Stanley Data Breach
Morgan Stanley agreed to pay $60 million to settle a data breach lawsuit resulting from improper data center decommissioning.
HealthReach Community Centers
HealthReach suffered a data breach due to improper hard drive disposal affecting patient health information.
These breaches reinforce the need for due measures while handling and disposing of IT assets to protect sensitive customer data (PII and PHI) from falling into wrong hands.
9 Key Measures to Prevent PII Breach
Regardless of industry or size, organizations must protect personal information of customers, employees, and stakeholders. Develop comprehensive policies to securely manage PII at all stages of the data lifecycle:
1. Limit Access
Limit access to devices and areas that store, transmit, and process sensitive data.
2. IT Security Policy
Establish policies for data encryption, multi-factor authentication, strong passwords, regular software updates, and data backup.
3. Data Governance Policy
Set protocols for safe data handling, archival, and protection. Regularly audit staff responsible for collecting and processing PII.
4. Privacy Policy
Define and limit the usage and management of data collected from customers, investors, and stakeholders.
5. Vendor Management Program
Address risk, security, privacy, and compliance with data protection laws and regulations for all third-party vendors.
6. Employee Training
Organize regular data security awareness trainings to ensure all personnel are aware of data leakage pitfalls.
7. Data Minimization
Don't store customer data beyond its purpose of collection. Permanently erase data once the project is over.
8. Data Disposal Policy
Formulate PII data retention and disposal policies for permanent destruction from devices not in use. Use software-based erasure for wiping data on HDDs, SSDs, PCs, Macs, and servers.
9. Incident Response Plan
Craft a plan to detect, respond, and recover from data security and data breach incidents.
Global Regulations for PII Protection
Different countries have established stringent data protection laws to guide organizations with legitimate approaches to PII collection, storage, and disposal. These regulations emphasize data erasure once the purpose is fulfilled:
NIST (United States)
National Institute of Standards and Technology guidelines to safeguard the confidentiality of U.S. citizens.
EU GDPR (Europe)
One of the toughest data protection regulations effective across the European Union.
Privacy Act 1988 (Australia)
Predominant data privacy law initiated by the Government of Australia in the late 80s.
PIPEDA (Canada)
Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act empowers Canadian customers with data access rights.
APPI (Japan)
Act on the Protection of Personal Information preserves personal information of Japanese citizens.
Key Takeaways
Organizations ignoring regulatory laws suffer massive penalties from legal and compliance regulators. Proper PII handling and disposal is essential.
- PII includes direct identifiers (SSN) and quasi-identifiers (race, DOB)
- Improper IT asset disposal is a leading cause of PII breaches
- Implement 9 key measures: access control, policies, training, disposal
- Use software-based erasure for permanent data destruction
- Comply with global regulations: NIST, GDPR, Privacy Act, PIPEDA, APPI
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