What is considered private information?
Definition
Private information is anything that can identify you or be traced to you, such as your name, Social Security number, biometric records, date and place of birth, and financial, medical or employment details.
- Category
- Privacy
- Also called
- personal information, private data
- Last updated
There's no one list. What counts depends on the law or rulebook you ask. The closest official anchor is NIST's definition of personally identifiable information (PII): information that can be used to distinguish or trace an individual's identity, either alone or combined with other information that is linked or linkable to a specific person.
Examples from NIST's definition
NIST's glossary names name, Social Security number and biometric records as direct identifiers. It adds date and place of birth and mother's maiden name as details that identify someone when combined with others, and medical, educational, financial and employment information as data that's linked or linkable to a person.
Alone or combined
The "combined" part matters. A birth date alone is weak. Birth date, a past address and a mother's maiden name together can be enough to answer security questions or open accounts. Data brokers do exactly this combining, which is why a single profile can hold far more than any one record.
Private vs. public
Some private information is easy to find anyway. Property records, court filings and voter lists are public in many places, and people-search sites republish them. "Public" doesn't mean harmless: your address is still personal information.
See PII and sensitive data for how the closest terms differ.
How to protect yourself
- 1
Share the minimum
Skip optional fields on forms, and don't give an SSN or birth date unless there's a real need.
- 2
Lock down social profiles
Remove your address, birthday and workplace, and make accounts private.
- 3
Find where your details are listed
Search your name and check people-search sites. Serus finds where your address and phone number are exposed and removes them, and keeps watching.
- 4
Freeze your credit
A free freeze stops new accounts opened with your SSN.
See where your personal data is exposed
Serus finds it on data brokers and people-search sites and removes it.
Frequently asked
Is my name private information?
Your name is on NIST's list of identifying information, but a common name alone points to many people. It becomes more sensitive when combined with an address, birth date or other details.
Is private information the same as PII?
They overlap heavily. PII is the formal term used by NIST and US agencies.
Is public record information still private?
It can still be personal information. Being public doesn't make it safe to publish alongside everything else about you.
Sources
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