What is personal data?

Definition

Personal data is any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person, such as name, CPF (Brazilian tax identification number), email, address, geolocation, IP address, or device identifiers.

The concept is broad in purpose: it doesn't matter if the information is public, seems harmless, or is in an internal system. If it allows someone to be identified, alone or combined with other information, it is personal data and its processing requires a legal basis.

What does the LGPD say?

Article 5, I, of LGPD Personal data is defined as "information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person." Article 12 clarifies that anonymized data is not considered personal, except when the anonymization process can be reversed with reasonable effort. Data from legal entities are not protected by law, but data from partners, employees, and representatives are.

In practice

• Customer records, payroll information, resumes, and service records are all forms of personal data.
• Technical identifiers, such as IP addresses, cookies, and advertising IDs, are also considered personal data when they allow the user to be identified.
• The classification defines what goes into ROPA and what controls apply.
• Health data, biometrics, racial origin, and religious beliefs are sensitive data and have stricter rules.

How Privacy Tools it deals with the topic

O Data Mapping registers the categories of personal data for each processing activity and the Data discovery It locates this data in the organization's systems, files, and databases, classifying it by type and sensitivity.

Related terms

Sensitive personal data · Data subject · anonymization · ROPA · Back to glossary

Updated October 3th, 2026.