Protect PII
Personally Identifiable Information, or PII, includes data that identifies an individual, such as names, addresses, and social security numbers. PII is central to customer interactions with your products and services, and mishandling PII can lead to devastating consequences.
Data breaches are on the rise, and cyberattacks are becoming more sophisticated. Protecting PII is more crucial than ever. Customers now expect companies to handle their sensitive data with the highest level of care, making robust data privacy practices a non-negotiable standard. Failing to do so risks identity theft, financial loss, and legal penalties and threatens your organization’s reputation and trustworthiness.
This document explores the strategies and solutions necessary to navigate this complex landscape, offering insights on protecting your customers’ most sensitive information without compromising data utility. It’s time to rethink your approach to PII, align with data privacy expectations, and build a foundation of trust that carries your organization into the future.
PII is everywhere
Organizations across all industries face significant challenges in managing and protecting sensitive data. Safeguarding PII from telecommunications and technology providers to higher education institutions is increasingly complex. More and more organizations have felt the impact of data breaches over the last several years. Not only do they cost you your reputation, but they bring significant fines as well. Consider the following breaches:
- The 2019 Capital One breach, caused by a misconfigured firewall, exposed over 100 million customers’ data, resulting in legal consequences and an $80 million fine.
- In the 2021 T-Mobile breach, hackers accessed the personal data of over 40 million customers, leading to legal action, regulatory scrutiny, and reputational damage.
- The 2018 University of California breach, which exposed the personal data of over 5 million individuals, underscores the significant risks and impact of protecting such large volumes of sensitive information.
All companies share a common thread: they handle vast amounts of PII, making them highly vulnerable to data breaches and cyberattacks. The following shared vulnerabilities underscores the need for collective action in safeguarding PII.
- Massive amounts of data: Managing vast amounts of PII, such as user data, call records, and academic records, complicates maintaining consistent security and monitoring real-time access.
- Complex and interconnected systems: The intricate technology and cloud environments, as well as interconnected systems across regions and departments, create extensive vulnerabilities and expand the attack surface, making it difficult to ensure uniform security and compliance.
- Reliance on third-party vendors: Dependence on third-party vendors for services like storage, networking, and online platforms introduces risk because breaches in these systems can expose sensitive PII and compromise data integrity.
- Real-time data access: The need for real-time data access for services like emergency response, online courses, and financial transactions challenges the balance between maintaining system performance and protecting sensitive information.
Isolate, protect, and govern
When you adhere to PII isolation, protection, and governance, you reduce data exposure, lower breach risks, and streamline compliance with regulations like GDPR and CPRA. As challenges in managing PII grow, taking a proactive and comprehensive approach is critical. Here is a consolidated strategy for safeguarding PII across industries:
- Isolate PII:
- Reduce the duplication and distribution of PII data across your systems and apps.
- Decouple PII data from your primary app data to reduce exposure.
- Protect PII:
- Use strong encryption and tokenization to protect PII confidentiality.
- Encrypt PII data both at rest and in transit.
- Govern PII:
- Apply fine-grained access controls to restrict PII access by user roles.
- Enforce robust audit logging and monitoring to track PII access and usage.
Protect PII in a data privacy vault
A data privacy vault secures sensitive data and ensures compliance and empowers your applications to use data reliably and effectively. By implementing Skyflow Data Privacy Vault, you’re not just protecting sensitive data—you’re unlocking advanced features like data processing, de-identification, and connectivity to third-party services.
Ready to improve your data privacy strategy? Explore what Skyflow can do.
