Commentary- Personally Identifiable Information

  • Published
  • By 374th Communications Squadron Knowledge Operations
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan --  Most people have heard horror stories of people who have had their identities stolen. And in recent months, many individuals have been notified of how government computer tapes and laptops containing personal information have been stolen. Though nothing has been linked to any actual cases of identity theft, a stolen identity is a serious concern to many of us.

Personally Identifiable Information, or PII, is information about an individual that can be used to distinguish their identity. In cases where PII has been compromised, it is the type of personal information that can be used to steal your, or someone else's, identity.

Some examples are (this list is not all-inclusive):
· Name
· Social security number (full or partial)
· Age
· Military rank or civilian pay grade
· Marital status
· Race
· Home or office phone numbers
· Date or place of birth
· Biometric, personnel, medical and financial information

Protecting PII privacy information is the responsibility of every federal employee, military member and contractor who handles privacy records or PII contained in any record. PII is protected under the Privacy Act of 1974 and carries severe penalties for violations such as:

Disclosing PII from a system of records to anyone not entitled to receive it.
Request/obtain another person's PII under false pretenses.

When working with PII, it is important to remember you should not post PII on publicly accessible DoD web sites unless authorized by law and implementing instructions and policies. Additionally, you should not post PII on .mil private websites (SharePoint) unless authorized by the local commander, an appropriate risk assessment has been performed and security measures have been implemented to deny access to unauthorized users.

More information on PII can be found in Air Force Instruction 33-332 Air Force Privacy Program, by contacting your Group Knowledge Operators, or the base Privacy Act Officer at 225-8644 or email 374cs.scokknowledgeops@yokota.af.mil.