Every organization deals with data. This can be data regarding the organization or its employees. But, there are companies that work with sensitive data. These are the types of data that are confidential in nature and must be stored securely to avoid misuse.

But what exactly is classified as sensitive data? Well, that’s what we’re going to find out.

What is Sensitive Data?

Sensitive data is any type of data that has a significant value to an individual or organization that, if stolen, could severely impact the organization negatively. For instance, sensitive data could reveal information about a person they don’t want anyone to know about, or it could help businesses gain an edge over their competitors.

Therefore, such data needs to be accessed only by authorized parties, ensuring that the CIA triad is preserved.

This is often done by employing robust data security measures such as encryption, access controls, and continuous monitoring to ensure the proper handling and protection of sensitive data for security and compliance purposes.

Types of Sensitive Data

Well, now that you know what sensitive data is, you must be wondering – “What classifies as sensitive data”? Well, simply put, it’s anything that can negatively impact the reputation of an individual or a business if exposed.

But, various types of data exist that can be classified as sensitive data.

Personally Identifiable Information (PII)

Personally Identifiable Information (PII) data refers to any piece of data that can be used to uniquely identify a person. For instance, this can be:

  1. Full Name
  2. Social Security Number (SSN)
  3. Date of Birth
  4. Address and Contact Information
  5. Passport and Driver’s License Numbers

PII data is often considered sensitive data due to the following reasons:

Identity Theft

Many attackers aim to get a hold of PII data to create fake identities that leverage the stolen data, resulting in identity theft. For example, an attacker might steal the date of birth, full name, and SSN to open credit card accounts, take out loans, and make unauthorized purchases using stolen PII.

Stalking and Harassment

Another reason that PII is treated as sensitive data is because it holds information that can uniquely identify somebody. For example, it can be used to locate where somebody lives. An attacker might leverage such data to stalk individuals and disrupt their privacy.

Financial Information

Financial information can be considered sensitive information due to the significant risks and consequences associated with its exposure. This includes details about an individual’s or organization’s:

  1. Card Numbers
  2. Bank Account Information

If these aren’t treated as sensitive data, it can lead to significant issues like:

Financial Frauds

An attacker can leverage stolen card information to make purchases or withdraw money. Not only that, but they can also leverage the stolen bank account information to initiate wire transfers to their accounts.

Financial Loss

Attempting fraudulent transactions with stolen data can significantly drain an organization’s money as an attacker can recklessly spend on things and even transfer money out of the corporate/individual account.

Health Information

Health information is considered sensitive due to its deeply personal nature and the potential consequences of its exposure. This type of data includes any information related to an individual’s:

  1. Physical or mental health
  2. Medical history
  3. Treatment plans
  4. Health insurance details

If such sensitive health data is exposed to the public, it can lead to issues like:

Discrimination

Employees can sometimes be discriminated against within the company for being diagnosed with a disease. So, they might not want to share all their medical history with their company. However, if such data is leaked, it could risk the patient’s privacy and leave them on the verge of being discriminated against.

Privacy Concerns

Sometimes, patients may not necessarily be open about their medical history and might not want everyone to know their diagnosis history as they want it to remain private and personal. However, if this is exposed to the public, it will impact the privacy of the data and the patients.

Protecting Sensitive Data

Now that you know what sensitive data is, it’s important to understand how to protect it. This can be done at three levels:

  1. Protection at rest
  2. Protection at transit
  3. Protection during processing

To enforce protection at rest, it’s beneficial to leverage symmetric encryption techniques to encrypt the data inside the database. By doing so, if data is leaked, it will not be comprehendible by the attacker, thus preserving the privacy of the data.

Additionally, you can protect the data in transit by leveraging protocols like TLS to ensure that your requests are not prone to man-in-the-middle attacks

Finally, you can protect your data during processing by leveraging techniques like homomorphic encryption to ensure that your data can be processed in an encrypted state to derive meaningful outputs.

Concluding Thoughts

Sensitive data is something that exists in all organizations. Not all types of sensitive data were explored here. However, keep in mind that sensitive data is any type of data that can significantly harm the reputation of an individual or a company if exposed. By doing so, you can successfully identify all forms of sensitive data within your organization and adopt the necessary measures to protect them.