The u. s. department of commerce defines as information that can be used to distinguish or trace an individual’s identity, such as their name, social security number, biometric records, and so on, alone or when combined with other personal or identifying information that is linked or linkable to a specific individual, such as date and place of birth, mother’s maiden name, and so on. (a) personally identifiable information (pii) (b) controlled unclassified information (cui) (c) top secret information (d) confidential information