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How ISEC7 CLASSIFY Helps Organizations Protect PII

  Remi Keusseyan  ·  5 minute read

Securing sensitive data is paramount for any organization, and organizations in the European Union (EU) must adhere to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a comprehensive data privacy law enacted by the European Union (EU) in April 2016 and implemented on May 25, 2018. It aims to give individuals more control over their personal data and Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and to simplify the regulatory environment for international business by unifying data protection laws across the EU.

The GDPR applies to any organization that processes personal data of individuals within the EU, regardless of where the organization is based. This means that even companies outside the EU must comply with GDPR if they offer goods or services to, or monitor the behavior of, individuals in the EU. The regulation covers various aspects of data protection, including the rights of data subjects, the responsibilities of data controllers and processors, and the conditions for data transfer outside the EU. It imposes strict requirements on organizations to ensure the security and privacy of personal data, and violations can result in significant fines.

Ahead, we will delve further into PII, the regulations around it, and how ISEC7 CLASSIFY can help organizations safeguard PII and stay in compliance. 

What Is PII and How Does It Play into GDPR and Other EU Regulations? 

Personally Identifiable Information (PII) refers to any data that can be used to identify a specific individual. This includes obvious identifiers like names, addresses, and social security numbers, but also extends to less direct information such as IP addresses, login credentials, and even biometric data. Organizations are responsible for safeguarding PII through various security measures and compliance with privacy regulations to ensure that individuals’ personal information remains confidential and secure. Understanding and managing PII is essential for both individuals and businesses to maintain trust and integrity in their interactions and transactions. 

GDPR is designed to protect the privacy and security of personal data, which includes Personally Identifiable Information (PII). PII refers to any information that can be used to identify an individual, either directly or indirectly. Under GDPR, organizations must ensure that PII is handled with strict confidentiality and security measures to prevent unauthorized access, disclosure, or misuse. GDPR mandates that individuals have rights over their PII, such as the right to access, correct, delete, and restrict the processing of their data. Therefore, GDPR's regulations are fundamentally about safeguarding PII and ensuring that individuals' privacy is respected and protected in all data processing activities.  

When it comes to protecting PII, EU organizations must also consider HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The law is specific to the United States; however, HIPAA can apply to European companies if they handle the health data of U.S. citizens. For instance, if an EU-based health tech company processes or stores the medical data of U.S. citizens, it must comply with HIPAA regulations.

Protection of PII is crucial for organizations in today's digital age, as it helps prevent identity theft, fraud, and other malicious activities. When organizations fail to secure PII, they risk damaging their reputation, losing customer trust, and facing legal consequences.  
 
Data breaches can lead to significant financial losses, both from direct costs like fines and indirect costs such as loss of business. Moreover, regulatory bodies impose strict compliance requirements on organizations to ensure the protection of PII, and failure to meet these standards can result in severe penalties. By prioritizing the security of PII, organizations demonstrate their commitment to privacy and data protection, fostering a safer and more trustworthy environment for their customers and stakeholders. 

How ISEC7 CLASSIFY Helps Organizations Safeguard PII

To help protect PII, organizations benefit from tools that provide consistent classification, secure handling, and policy enforcement. 

 ISEC7 CLASSIFY ensures employees properly mark and distribute sensitive documents while using any Microsoft Office application, including Outlook and Office 365, across desktop and mobile devices. It helps organizations comply with data regulations such as Europe’s GDPR, Germany’s Security Screening Act (SÜG), and more, ensuring secure and compliant handling of classified information. 

 ISEC7 CLASSIFY is a simple-to-deploy, lightweight solution available as a Microsoft Office Add-in and hosted on Azure Platform as a Service (PaaS). It enforces document marking and prevents emails from being sent without classification, applying protection to the message body, subject, and attachments. The solution also verifies recipient domains, distinguishing between trusted and untrusted email addresses, with the ability to block untrusted recipients. Additionally, it alerts users when PII is sent outside a verified list, enhancing data security and compliance. 

For Microsoft 365 users, ISEC7 CLASSIFY will present the same way enabling common user experience for web and desktop. For mobile users, it is enabled within the ISEC7 MAIL mobile app for Android and iOS devices so that employees can properly mark their and disseminate their information regardless of work platform.

Integration with ISEC7 SPHERE 

ISEC7 CLASSIFY integrates with ISEC7 SPHERE, providing service availability monitoring, compliance monitoring and auditing, and classification user marking statistics. It also enables centralized management of classification markings, ensuring organizations maintain visibility, control, and compliance over their data classification processes. 

 How ISEC7 CLASSIFY Complements Microsoft Purview 

Organizations handle vast amounts of PII — data that, while not necessarily classified, still requires strict protection due to regulatory, legal, and security concerns. 

Microsoft Purview Information Protection helps by providing sensitivity labels, allowing organizations to classify emails, documents, and spreadsheets based on sensitivity levels, regulatory requirements (such as GDPR), and internal policies. However, these labels do not apply persistent markings, which can cause confusion in enforcement and handling. 

This is where ISEC7 CLASSIFY significantly enhances Microsoft Purview. While Purview’s labels allow organizations to tag data for later enforcement through Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies, ISEC7 CLASSIFY ensures that these markings remain embedded, providing immediate, visible classification and clear handling instructions for recipients. This means organizations always maintain control over PII, no matter where the data is sent. 

Additionally, a critical gap in Microsoft’s sensitivity labels is the lack of recipient validation—they don’t confirm whether a recipient is authorized to receive sensitive information. ISEC7 CLASSIFY closes this security gap by performing domain verification, distinguishing between trusted and untrusted recipients, and even blocking emails from being sent to unauthorized contacts. This ensures that only approved personnel can access PII, significantly reducing the risks of insider threats, accidental leaks, or malicious cyber activity. 

 For agencies using Microsoft 365, ISEC7 CLASSIFY integrates seamlessly into Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, providing familiar user experience while ensuring consistent classification, enforcement, and compliance. It extends to mobile devices via the ISEC7 MAIL app for iOS and Android, allowing employees to properly mark and safeguard PII regardless of the platform they’re working on. 
 

Beyond user-driven classification, ISEC7 CLASSIFY also integrates with ISEC7 SPHERE, offering centralized compliance monitoring, service availability tracking, and detailed classification statistics. This provides organizations with full auditing capabilities, ensuring they can monitor where PII is being transmitted and adjust security measures accordingly. 

Ultimately, while Microsoft Purview lays the foundation for safeguarding PII, ISEC7 CLASSIFY ensures that protection remains persistent, actionable, and enforceable. By using both together, agencies and contractors gain a comprehensive, automated, and policy-driven approach to protecting PII—one that meets federal requirements and reduces the risk of security breaches. 

The importance of safeguarding PII lies in its role in protecting individuals from identity theft, fraud, and other malicious activities. For EU organizations, securing PII is not only essential to complying with GDPR, but also maintaining customer trust and avoiding the financial and reputational damage that can result from data breaches. By prioritizing the protection of PII, organizations demonstrate their commitment to privacy and data security, fostering a safer and more trustworthy environment for everyone involved. 

ISEC7 CLASSIFY is an essential tool for any organization with data protection requirements and simplifies PII management by offering automated classification, secure access controls, policy enforcement, and compliance reporting. By leveraging this solution, organizations can mitigate security risks, maintain regulatory compliance, and protect national interests. Feel free to contact us about ISEC7 CLASSIFY and protecting PII, and we would be happy to answer any questions you may have and provide a demo.