Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
Massachusetts law requires that anyone storing personally identifiable information (PII) on a desktop, laptop, thumb drive or other media (including paper) take special precautions to protect this information. If you are storing PII, please view our data encryption page and our Securing Your Data page which has information on safely storing and disposing of paper records.
PII is a specific category of particularly sensitive data defined as follows:
Information that includes a Massachusetts resident's first name and last name or first initial and last name in combination with any one or more of the following data elements that relate to such resident:
- Social Security number (SSN).
- Financial account numbers such as bank account numbers, student loan records, credit card number, or debit card number with or without any required security code, access code, or password such as expiration date or the individual’s mother’s maiden name that could permit access to an individual’s financial account.
- Driver’s license number or state-issued / government-issued identification number.
- Medical information (any information regarding an individual’s medical history, mental or physical condition, or medical treatment or diagnosis provided by a licensed health care professional).
- Health insurance information (an individual’s health insurance policy number or subscriber identification number, any unique identifier used by a health insurer to identify the individual, or any information in an individual’s application and claims history, including any appeals records).
- Student education records (including grades and disciplinary records).
More information is available at Massachusetts Standards for the Protection of Personal Information of Residents of the Commonwealth.
Please email any further questions to ITservicedesk@umb.edu