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A document has pink redaction bars and a plain silhouette in place of a portrait. Jigsaw pieces showing a house, face, and car point toward it while a magnifying glass enlarges the hidden identity.
Reviewed visual · version 1

RS Glossary

De-Identification / Anonymization Risk

De-identification and anonymization risk is the possibility that data intended to conceal identity can still be linked back to a person through remaining attributes, outside information, or future techniques.

Review state
Reviewed in POC
Freshness
Current
Version
2
  • De-Identification / Anonymization Risk
  • Re-Identification Risk

Remember it this wayA name can disappear while identity remains recoverable.

In plain language

Removing names may not remove identity. Dates, locations, rare characteristics, identifiers, and combinations of fields can make a record recognizable when joined with other data.

Why it matters

Privacy decisions must consider the data, likely recipients, available outside information, technical safeguards, legal standard, and consequences of re-identification.

Example

Health records without names become identifiable when unusual dates and demographic details are matched with public records.

Common misconception

De-identified and anonymous are not always interchangeable legal or technical claims, and removing direct identifiers does not eliminate all privacy risk.

Related terms

Sources

Learn more

  • Compare practical sanitization with [[sanitized-information|Sanitized Information]].

Public history

45 recorded events · 45 public summaries

  1. A potential shared concept was discussed and selected for initial glossary drafting.

  2. The captured candidate received a complete initial draft and entered section-level human review.

  3. Radar reviewed the initial definition draft for human consideration.

  4. Radar reviewed the initial plain-language-explanation draft for human consideration.

  5. Radar reviewed the initial why-it-matters draft for human consideration.

  6. Radar reviewed the initial example draft for human consideration.

  7. Radar reviewed the initial common-misconception draft for human consideration.

  8. Radar reviewed the initial remember-it-this-way draft for human consideration.

  9. Radar reviewed the initial related-terms draft for human consideration.

  10. Radar reviewed the initial sources draft for human consideration.

  11. Radar reviewed the initial learn-more draft for human consideration.

  12. A proposal was opened for section-level human review while preserving the current version.

  13. A human reviewer opened a proposed revision while preserving the current approved or captured version.

  14. definition approved by a human reviewer.

  15. plain-language-explanation approved by a human reviewer.

  16. why-it-matters approved by a human reviewer.

  17. example approved by a human reviewer.

  18. common-misconception approved by a human reviewer.

  19. remember-it-this-way approved by a human reviewer.

  20. related-terms approved by a human reviewer.

  21. sources returned for revision.

  22. learn-more approved by a human reviewer.

  23. Requested wording was prepared without changing approved or existing sections.

  24. Radar reviewed the pending sources section for human consideration.

  25. Radar must rereview the complete de-identification-anonymization-risk term after an accepted text change.

  26. Radar must rereview the complete de-identification-anonymization-risk term after an accepted text change.

  27. Radar must rereview the complete de-identification-anonymization-risk term after an accepted text change.

  28. Radar must rereview the complete de-identification-anonymization-risk term after an accepted text change.

  29. Radar must rereview the complete de-identification-anonymization-risk term after an accepted text change.

  30. Radar must rereview the complete de-identification-anonymization-risk term after an accepted text change.

  31. Radar must rereview the complete de-identification-anonymization-risk term after an accepted text change.

  32. Radar must rereview the complete de-identification-anonymization-risk term after an accepted text change.

  33. Radar must rereview the complete de-identification-anonymization-risk term after an accepted text change.

  34. sources approved by a human reviewer.

  35. sources approved wording became the current section text.

  36. All section gates are approved; content version 2 is now a fully approved term.

  37. Radar rereviewed the human-approved definition wording for this exact version.

  38. Radar rereviewed the human-approved plain-language-explanation wording for this exact version.

  39. Radar rereviewed the human-approved why-it-matters wording for this exact version.

  40. Radar rereviewed the human-approved example wording for this exact version.

  41. Radar rereviewed the human-approved common-misconception wording for this exact version.

  42. Radar rereviewed the human-approved remember-it-this-way wording for this exact version.

  43. Radar rereviewed the human-approved related-terms wording for this exact version.

  44. Radar rereviewed the human-approved sources wording for this exact version.

  45. Radar rereviewed the human-approved learn-more wording for this exact version.

Source: vault/Glossary/terms/de-identification-anonymization-risk/term.md · sha256:39aa17da65d2840546d880dba99e260bd1c79d21588f174776906d5d6ec0eb7b · Release: rs-glossary-glossary-team-poc-0.5.5-2026-09-02