Abstract
In today’s digital era, the safeguarding of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) has become a critical concern for individuals, organizations, and governments. PII encompasses a broad spectrum of data elements, ranging from names and identity numbers to biometric identifiers. In this article, we explore the current state of PII, its significance, and the challenges it presents in terms of discovery, classification, and protection.
The ubiquity of PII in online interactions, financial transactions, healthcare, and government services has elevated its importance. With the proliferation of online platforms, e-commerce, social media, and the Internet of Things (IoT), individuals constantly share their personal information across a myriad of platforms and devices. This widespread usage has made PII a prime target for cyber threats and data breaches. Furthermore, the emergence of big data analytics and artificial intelligence has led organizations to accumulate more PII than ever before, underscoring the urgency of robust data protection measures. In this article, we highlight the growing significance of PII protection in an interconnected world.
We address the methods for discovering and classifying PII, acknowledging the challenges posed by diverse data formats, multilingual data, and the amount and velocity of data in big data environments. Effective PII protection necessitates this process of precise identification and categorization.
The protection of PII is essential to mitigate privacy breaches, identity theft, and financial fraud. Encryption, access controls, data retention policies, and data minimization strategies are essential preservation methods that are used for PII.
Nevertheless, there are key problems in the existing paradigm. We identify three major problems. Firstly, conventional methods for PII detection and classification often rely on static rules and predefined patterns, struggling to adapt to evolving PII formats and contextual variations. To address this limitation, Large Language Models (LLMs) can be used. Because LLMs excel in understanding context, are adaptable to various languages, and offer reduced false positives, making them well-suited for accurate and adaptable PII detection and classification. For special fields, finetuning and pruning existing LLMs can be a transformative solution.
Another challenge lies in the open storage of PII in structured and unstructred systems, exposing sensitive data to system administrators and potential cyber attackers. Format Preserving Encryption (FPE) emerges as a solution that can secure PII without altering data structures, striking a balance between data protection and usability.
Lastly, we highlight a vulnerability of Data Loss Prevention (DLP) systems, which may store PII openly and may attract malicious actors. FPE offers a remedy by encrypting sensitive data within DLP systems while maintaining original data formats and hence reducing the appeal of DLP systems as high-value targets.
In summary, we underscore the growing importance of PII protection, explore the challenges in discovery, classification, and preservation, and present innovative solutions utilizing LLMs and FPE. These advancements hold the potential to enhance data security and privacy in our interconnected digital world.
1. Introduction
Personally Identifiable Information (PII) encompasses any data that can be used to identify an individual, either on its own or in conjunction with other information. This includes but is not limited to, a person’s name, identity number, date of birth, email address, phone number, and even biometric data such as fingerprints or facial recognition patterns. PII plays a pivotal role in various aspects of our lives, ranging from online interactions and financial transactions to healthcare and government services. Its significance lies in the fact that PII is the key to our digital identities and, when mishandled or exposed, can lead to severe privacy breaches, identity theft, financial fraud, and emotional distress. As a result, safeguarding PII has become a fundamental requirement in the modern age, and governments and organizations worldwide are enacting stringent regulations and
