The Importance of PII Redaction in the Digital Age

2025-12-15•True Redact Team

In today's digital landscape, data privacy is not just a regulatory requirement; it's a cornerstone of trust between businesses and their customers. Personally Identifiable Information (PII) such as names, social security numbers, and addresses are prime targets for cybercriminals. According to the IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average cost of a data breach reached $4.45 million in 2023—a 15% increase over three years.

What is PII?

PII refers to any data that could potentially identify a specific individual. This includes:

  • Direct identifiers: Social Security numbers, passport numbers, driver's license numbers
  • Quasi-identifiers: Date of birth, zip code, gender (which can be combined to identify individuals)
  • Sensitive PII: Financial information, medical records, biometric data

Any information that can be used to distinguish one person from another and can be used for de-anonymizing anonymous data can be considered PII.

The Regulatory Landscape

Governments worldwide have enacted stringent data protection laws:

  • GDPR (EU): Fines up to €20 million or 4% of global annual revenue
  • CCPA (California): Civil penalties of $2,500–$7,500 per violation
  • HIPAA (US Healthcare): Penalties ranging from $100 to $50,000 per violation

Why Redact?

Redaction is the process of obscuring or removing sensitive information from documents before they are shared or published. This ensures that even if a document falls into the wrong hands, the sensitive data within it remains protected.

Common use cases include:

  • Legal discovery and court filings
  • FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests
  • Medical record releases
  • Financial document sharing
  • HR and employment records

The True Redact Difference

Traditional redaction methods—using black markers or basic PDF tools—are slow, inconsistent, and often fail to permanently remove data. True Redact uses AI to automatically detect and permanently remove PII, ensuring your documents are truly safe to share.