What is a personal attribute?
Reviewed by Anthon Wansland
Head of Product & Co-Founder
Serus is a privacy company with paid tools to find and remove your personal data. This page is free and based on official sources.
Definition
A personal attribute is a single fact about a person, such as their name, age, address or job. Attributes that can identify someone, alone or combined, count as personal information.
- Category
- Data
- Also called
- personal characteristic, personal attributes
- Last updated
Sources checked: csrc.nist.gov
Last verified against the official page:
A personal attribute is one detail that describes you: your name, date of birth, home address, phone number, employer. Each is an attribute.
NIST defines personal information as information that can be used to distinguish or trace an individual's identity, either alone or when combined with other information that is linked or linkable to a specific individual. A related definition, drawn from ISO, is any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person.
Why combining attributes matters
One attribute is often harmless. Your first name or your city doesn't point to you. Put several together, such as name, city, age and employer, and they can single out one person. That is why a data broker builds profiles from many small facts rather than one big one.
Examples
- Direct: full name, phone number, email address, home address.
- Indirect: age, gender, postcode, job title, which can identify you when combined.
Personal attribute vs. sensitive data
Some attributes carry more risk, such as health or biometric details. See sensitive data and personal information for the difference.
How to protect yourself
- 1
Share fewer attributes
Leave optional fields blank on forms and sign-ups. Every extra detail is another way to link you to a profile.
- 2
Keep combinations apart
Avoid putting your name, town and employer on the same public profile.
- 3
Find who is listing you
Search your name and phone number to see which sites collect your attributes. Serus finds where your address and phone number are listed and removes them.
- 4
Check your privacy settings
Set social profiles to private so strangers can't read your age, location and workplace.
See it in action
See where your personal data is exposed
Serus finds it on data brokers and people-search sites and removes it.
Frequently asked
Is a name a personal attribute?
Yes. A name is a personal attribute, and NIST treats information that distinguishes or traces an individual as personal information.
Can non-identifying attributes become identifying?
Yes. NIST's definition covers information that identifies someone when combined with other information linked or linkable to that person.
Sources
- Personal Information - Glossary · csrc.nist.gov
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