What does Personally Identifiable Information refer to?

Personally Identifiable Information (PII) refers to any information that can be used to identify an individual uniquely. This includes, but is not limited to, names, social security numbers, addresses, phone numbers, and other identifiers that can be associated with a specific person. The essence of PII is its ability to distinguish or trace an individual's identity, which is crucial in contexts such as data protection, privacy laws, and cybersecurity.

The other options do not accurately capture the definition of PII. For instance, information that identifies a company pertains to organizational identifiers rather than personal data, and data that only has value in financial contexts does not encompass the wide range of personal identifiers. Similarly, content deemed irrelevant for identity verification clearly does not fit the definition since PII is, by nature, relevant for identifying individuals.