Is Email Considered PII (Personally Identifiable Information) in 2025?

So is email considered PII? The answer isn’t a simple binary yes or no.

Trust me, I have been in the data field long enough, covering all sorts of scenarios ranging from email migrations to cloud backups. No question sparks more debates among users than whether email counts as personal information.

Is [email protected] PII? Yes, without any doubt, but can the same statement be true for [email protected]? Probably not. Moreover, there is also no clear consensus on the status of hashed mail (like d7984b9599199b83cc213f19cb2906d2).

Therefore, if you are also among those trying to determine whether email is PII data or not, and how to handle it when you encounter it, rest assured, you are in the right place.

Here I will showcase real-world case studies and break them down to you in easy-to-understand language.

Short Answer to Is Email Considered PII? Generally Yes

Without wasting any time, let’s cut to the chase. Does email count as Personally Identifiable Information? In most cases, yes. If it weren’t such a big deal, you would not see trillion-dollar companies like Apple adding features that allow its users to hide their email.

According to the IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2025, customer PII (including email addresses) is the most commonly compromised type of record, appearing in 53% of all breaches.

It is the bread and butter of data theft. Emails are most sought after by nefarious entities because email addresses contain key elements that qualify them as PII: Take a look at a typical email syntax: [email protected]. This single string of text provides:

• First Name: John
• Last Name: Smith
• Likely Birth Year: 1985

So, email addresses are a key digital footprint that can be used to identify, contact, or locate a person, which is the exact definition of PII.

Do Workmails Count as Personal Information Identifiers? What NIST Standard Says

This is the biggest argument that I get from users: “But it’s a corporate/company workmail address, how can it be my PII?”

Such thinking is not only wrong but also dangerous. This is not my opinion; I have the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to back me.

More specifically, in NIST Special Publication 800-122, it clearly states that “personal email address” is PII even if it is a business email. The main criterion is whether that particular workmail links to a specific individual, for example, [email protected]; it is PII.

There should be no longer any doubts regarding whether a work email address is considered PII. Even when the domain belongs to the company, the main part of the email syntax is some combination of first name, last name, initials, DOB, etc. Which, more often than not, is unique for every person.

If you are an IT admin and people come in questioning is email considered PII or employee email PII, you have a proper answer.

The only exception is when the format of addresses is similar to support@ or sales@ (which is often the case for organizations using Office 365 shared mailboxes). It is because these types of addresses can’t be directly linked to any particular person in the organization.

Now, some might think email is considered PII if a hash function hides it? The answer to that is found below:

Is Hashed Email also PII?

You might be scrubbing a database and decide to hash the emails to “anonymize” them. You turn [email protected] into a scrambled mess of characters.

So is this hashed email still considered PII? Technically, yes.

Despite being gibberish, hashing is just a puzzle. If a hacker (or a forensic analyst) has the original list and the algorithm, they can solve that puzzle in no time.

Therefore, unless you destroy the key, that email address, along with all other data, is still linkable to a person.

I see this a lot in investigations. People think they hid the data, but with the right email decryption tool, that “secure” hash turns back into a plain-text email address in seconds.

Is Email Considered PII Legally?

Yes. If you are an organization that stores or handles the emails of employees and customers, you must maintain security processes that safeguard against email PII leaks.

Many of the strict IT laws, like GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA, have clear instructions on Email PII. Moreover, they impose severe penalties for non-compliance.

• GDPR (Europe): Is email address PII under GDPR? Yes. If you have data on anyone from Europe, a corporate email address ([email protected]) is under the same scrutiny as their home address.
• CCPA (California): California law categorizes email addresses specifically under the category of “Identifiers.”
• HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act): If an email address is present alongside health data, it becomes Protected Health Information (PHI).

Even the world’s most sophisticated organizations are not totally immune from data leaks, as the recent Gmail password data breach has demonstrated; you must remain extra vigilant.

What You Should Do Right Now

This instruction is for those who store a large volume of emails, or there could be an email migration in your organization.

If you have Outlook archives, use professional SysTools PST Viewer Pro that can help you search for email PII without having the Outlook client installed on your system.

Conclusion

Is email considered PII? Yes, there is no doubt about it. Here, I have used facts and figures to help you understand why this is the case and what you should do if you are a user or a business.

Frequently Asked Questions on Email PII

Q: Does email count as PII?

A: Yes, if it identifies a person. Both NIST and GDPR agree on this.

Q: Is name and email together PII?

A: Yes. That is the classic definition of “Contact PII.”

Q: Is my work email PII?

A: If it has your name in it, yes. It identifies you as an employee of that company.

Q: Does email count as personal information if it’s publicly available (eg, social media)?

A: Surprisingly, yes. Just because it’s on a business card or LinkedIn doesn’t mean it stops being PII under laws like GDPR.