What is Anonymization and pseudonymization?
In short
Anonymization changes personal data so it can no longer be linked to an individual by any reasonable means. Pseudonymization replaces identifiers with codes, but the data can still be re-identified using separately held information.
Key takeaways
- Under the European Union's data protection rules, anonymized data is outside their scope; pseudonymized data is still personal data.
- Combining datasets can re-identify supposedly anonymous data.
- Pseudonymization is still a useful safeguard that reduces risk.
Where it's tested
ISC: Privacy & Regulatory Frameworks — study notes, a five-minute revision sheet and practice questions.
Practise: 3 questions
Question 1 of 3 · 0 answered
A company replaces customer names with random codes but keeps a separate key that links the codes back to the names. Under the General Data Protection Regulation, the coded data is: