What Is Sensitive Data & How Does It Differ From Personal Data?
GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is a European Union (EU) regulation that regulates the way that the personal data of EU residents is processed, stored and used. The core aim and focus of GDPR is to protect the fundamental right of individuals to control their personal data. Data regulations like this ensure that personal data is safeguarded from misuse, leakage, or theft.
However, what classifies as personal data? What is the difference between sensitive data vs personal data? As the amount of data that companies generate and store increases every day (especially in the digital age), organizations now rely on large amounts of data to support and develop mission-critical business processes. However, as regulations such as GDPR continue to get stricter and more vigilant over time, it is crucial for organizations to take more care in understanding how GDPR sensitive personal data should be managed.
As legal terminology and regulations continue to evolve, your organization must be aware of the different types of data and how to protect the security and privacy of individuals. Studies have shown that the average company has 534,465 files that contain sensitive data. In this article, we will clearly differentiate the different categories of data and why they are crucial for data security and compliance, provide examples of personal and sensitive data, and help you understand how you can protect organizational data.
The two primary categories of protected data are personal data and sensitive data. Although they are typically used interchangeably, these two data types are distinctly categorized under different articles of the GDPR. Therefore, this impacts the guidelines and mandates for protecting their rights.
Generally speaking, personal data is any information that can be used to identify an individual with certainty, whether directly or indirectly.
As early as 1978, the French legislation provided a special category of data, commonly known as sensitive data, although this term needs to be indicated in the texts. The definition has been adopted almost identically in the General Data Protection Regulation context.
Data commonly accepted as sensitive are information that reveals the alleged racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, as well as the processing of genetic and biometric data to uniquely identify a natural person, data concerning health or data concerning a natural person's sex life or sexual orientation. Data on convictions and criminal offenses are usually also included.
In short, sensitive data is personal data. However, sensitive data is also a category with its own guidelines and rules that must be followed.
The use of sensitive data (commonly referred to as sensitive personal data) is by default forbidden and can only be utilized under specific requirements. Sensitive data refers to information that must remain confidential due to the potential risk associated with unregulated access. The breach of sensitive data can usually result in significant financial, reputational or emotional damage to the impacted entity.
We now know that sensitive data is a type of personal data that requires a higher level of protection and hence must be processed differently. But why is this data classified as sensitive?
These data have several points in common. First of all, sensitive data, of course, reveals particularly personal information about an individual. Specifically, this information not only uniquely identifies an individual as an email address might allow, but it shows things that people usually only want to share with a tiny circle of relatives.
Secondly, and this is the most important common point, any unwanted or unsupervised intervention (alteration, loss, or unauthorized disclosure) on this data could have a very significant impact on the people concerned. For example, in the event that data such as the blood type or allergy of a patient in a hospital is altered or lost, the potential impact for the patient could be very significant. He or she may not receive appropriate care, or more seriously, be administered a medication to which he or she is allergic and have serious consequences.
Sensitive data refers to all information that can reveal aspects of their personal, financial or health-related history. This includes all personally identifiable information (PII) such as the following sensitive data examples:
Any organization attempting to process sensitive data must satisfy one legal basis under Article 6 pertaining to the general processing of personal data and one condition under Article 9 specifically addressing “special categories of personal data.” The conditions listed here are only examples - please check the full list under article 9 of the GDPR.
In a broad sense, personal data refers to any information that can be used directly or indirectly to identify an individual or household. This type of data generally includes information that, while not explicitly sensitive, could still be considered personal and requires careful handling. It may reveal details about an individual's life, personal preferences, or background, even if not in a highly intimate manner.
Businesses usually collect, manage, and store large amounts of data about their users and customers. While an email address by itself may not reveal the identity of an individual, the overall sum of all the personal data an organization has access to can be pieced together.
For example, while an email address may not seem like it reveals a significant amount of sensitive or important personal data, it can be used to contact an individual, may contain their first and last name, and may even reveal the organization they work with.
Here are some personal data examples :
While the GDPR explicitly lists certain categories of data as sensitive, it's important to note that other data may also be considered sensitive based on their context and potential impact. In common knowledge, some personal data could be considered sensitive but does not fall within the categorization provided by the GDPR. It means that by default, it is not forbidden to process these, but you need to have security measures and extra care in the adequacy of the risks it has on data subjects. Factors to consider include:
The nature of the data: Data that reveal highly personal information or is considered sensitive by the individual may require additional protection.
The purpose of processing: If the processing of the data involves activities that could lead to significant harm, it may be considered sensitive.
The context of processing: The specific circumstances under which the data is processed can influence its sensitivity.
Assessing and classifying data is a crucial step for organizations to ensure that their information is well-protected and effectively utilized. Without accurately determining the sensitivity of data, organizations may treat all types of data the same - leading to an increased risk of compromised information, lack of security and a consequent loss of efficiency and productivity.
Key factors that your organization must consider when classifying and categorizing data as well as determining an accurate level of data sensitivity are as follows:
The exposure of sensitive data can have significant and far-reaching negative consequences for both individuals and organizations. These include:
A data breach that includes sensitive data can lead to substantial financial loss for all concerned parties. This includes the cost of investigation, legal fees, PR (public relations) initiatives, credit monitoring services for affected individuals, incident response efforts, and potential fines from relevant regulatory bodies. Studies have shown that the global average cost of a data breach is $4.88 million.
The impact of a sensitive data breach also has a noticeable impact on customer trust, which often leads to decreased revenue and increased day-to-day operational costs.
A data breach of sensitive information can cause irreversible harm to an organization’s overall reputation. If the general public believes that an organization is careless with security and its data loss prevention methods, it could lead to a loss of user trust, negative media coverage, and public scrutiny. Therefore, the fear of compromising sensitive data may impact overall future business growth. Rebuilding trust and repairing the damage to an organization’s reputation after a sensitive data breach can be challenging, time-consuming, and expensive.
It can be difficult to navigate the complexities of GDPR compliance without the right support and resources.
DPO Consulting specializes in providing businesses with the tools they need such as powerful and high-impact GDPR software, detailed compliance audits, and privacy impact assessments (PIAs) to gain a detailed overview of data protection and compliance in your organization. Our detailed and comprehensive action plans will help your business address all potential strategic and operational issues that may arise from the lack of GDPR compliance.
Our services include:
Ready to work with our team of highly experienced data compliance experts? We have decades of experience helping businesses across a variety of different industries safeguard and protect their data. Get in touch today to speak to a GDPR expert now.
No, name and address are generally considered non-sensitive data as per GDPR.
No, gender is not considered as sensitive data.
Investing in GDPR compliance efforts can weigh heavily on large corporations as well as smaller to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Turning to an external resource or support can relieve the burden of an internal audit on businesses across the board and alleviate the strain on company finances, technological capabilities, and expertise.
External auditors and expert partners like DPO Consulting are well-positioned to help organizations effectively tackle the complex nature of GDPR audits. These trained professionals act as an extension of your team, helping to streamline audit processes, identify areas of improvement, implement necessary changes, and secure compliance with GDPR.
Entrusting the right partner provides the advantage of impartiality and adherence to industry standards and unlocks a wealth of resources such as industry-specific insights, resulting in unbiased assessments and compliance success. Working with DPO Consulting translates to valuable time saved and takes away the burden from in-house staff, while considerably reducing company costs.
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