Which process removes or modifies personal identifiable information from a data set to protect privacy?

Which process removes or modifies personal identifiable information from a data set to protect privacy?

• A. Reidentification
• B. Unencrypted Data (Cleartext/Plaintext)
• C. Data Masking
• D. Anonymization

Answer: (D)

Protecting privacy by removing or irreversibly altering personal identifiers so that individuals cannot be linked to the data is anonymization. By stripping out names, addresses, or other direct identifiers and often generalizing or aggregating remaining details, the dataset becomes non-identifiable, allowing it to be analyzed or shared without exposing who it belongs to. Data masking also hides PII, but it’s typically used to obscure data in environments like development and can sometimes be reversible, whereas anonymization aims to prevent reidentification entirely. Reidentification is the risk of linking anonymized data back to a person, which is why the method focuses on removing or irreversibly transforming identifiers. Leaving data unencrypted is not about reducing identifiability; it just exposes the data.

Protecting privacy by removing or irreversibly altering personal identifiers so that individuals cannot be linked to the data is anonymization. By stripping out names, addresses, or other direct identifiers and often generalizing or aggregating remaining details, the dataset becomes non-identifiable, allowing it to be analyzed or shared without exposing who it belongs to. Data masking also hides PII, but it’s typically used to obscure data in environments like development and can sometimes be reversible, whereas anonymization aims to prevent reidentification entirely. Reidentification is the risk of linking anonymized data back to a person, which is why the method focuses on removing or irreversibly transforming identifiers. Leaving data unencrypted is not about reducing identifiability; it just exposes the data.