10 Ways to Protect Personal Identifiable Information Online
Learn practical steps to protect sensitive personal data such as addresses, ID numbers, and financial details when you use the internet.
Understanding Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
Personally identifiable information (PII) includes any data that can uniquely identify you: full name, home address, government ID numbers, financial account details, and even combinations of seemingly harmless data points. When attackers collect enough of this information, they can impersonate you, open accounts in your name, or bypass security questions.
Protecting PII starts with recognizing where it lives—online accounts, cloud storage, email inboxes, and old devices—and reducing unnecessary copies. The fewer places your data is stored, the smaller the attack surface.
Practical Steps to Limit PII Exposure
Use unique, strong passwords for important accounts and enable multi‑factor authentication wherever possible. Limit how much information you share on social media, especially birth dates, addresses, and answers that resemble security‑question prompts.
Encrypt sensitive files stored in the cloud, shred documents that contain PII before discarding them, and be wary of unsolicited emails or calls asking you to “verify” personal details. When in doubt, contact organizations using phone numbers or websites you look up yourself rather than links or numbers in a message.