Personal Identifiable Information ( PII )

Personal Identifiable Information (PII) is a category of sensitive information that is associated with an individual person, such as an employee, student, or donor. PII should be accessed only on a strict need-to-know basis and handled with care.

PII is information that can be used to uniquely identify, contact, or locate a single person. Personal information that is “de-identified” (maintained in a way that does not allow association with a specific person) is not considered sensitive. Note that UM-ID numbers by themselves are not considered sensitive or personally identifiable information.

University policies, contractual obligations, and federal and state laws and regulations require appropriate protection of PII that is not publicly available.  These regulations apply to PII stored or transmitted via any type of media: electronic, paper, microfiche, and even verbal communication.

PII does not include publicly available information that is lawfully made available to the general public from federal, state, or local government records.

Examples:

  • Social Security number (There are additional restrictions on where Social Security numbers can be stored and shared.)
  • National ID number
  • Passport number
  • Visa permit number
  • Driver's license number
  • Bank and credit/debit card number
  • Tax information (e.g., W-2, W-4, 1099)
  • Disability information
  • Ethnicity
  • Gender
  • The location of an individual at a particular time
  • Web sites visited
  • Materials downloaded
  • Any other information reflecting preferences and behaviors of an individual
  • Internet Protocol (IP) address (source and destination) in conjunction with other PII. IP address may identify an individual
  • Employee Biographic/demographic data
  • Employee Criminal record
  • Employee Home address
  • Employee Grievance information
  • Employee Discipline information
  • Employee Leave-of-absence reason
  • Employee Payroll and benefits information
  • Employee Health information (There are additional restrictions on where Protected Health Information can be stored and shared
  • Student transcripts and grades
  • Student Degree information
  • Student Class schedule
  • Student Advising records
  • Student Disciplinary records
  • Student Athletics or department recruiting information
  • Student Wire transfer information
  • Student Financial aid, accounting, and loan information
  • Student Student tuition bills
  • Student Other non-directory information
  • Donors Biographic/demographic data
  • Donors Contact information
  • Donors Prospect data
  • Donors Gift and gift-planning data

Laws/Regulations/Policies:

Additional Resources:

Restrictions:

Frequently Used By
  • Researchers
Category
  • Sensitive
Restrictions Key
  • Permitted
  • Not Permitted
  • Permitted with Encryption