Identifiability

Term	Definition
Anonymisation	The process of making personally identifiable data anonymous so that individuals can no longer be identified. In contrast to Pseudonymisation, true anonymisation cannot be reversed. See also: Pseudonymisation.
De-identification	See: De-identification 🔗. See: De-identification 🔗.
Disclosure Control	The process of review by approved staff at a Trusted Research Environment (TRE) of any research or analysis results prior to their release from the TRE. The aim of disclosure control is to ensure there are no risks of identifying individuals in any released research results. See also: Egress/Ingress Control. Related to: Disclosure Control Methods 🔗. Related to: Disclosure Check 🔗.
Identifiable Data	Data that can be used to identify, contact, or locate a specific individual, either by itself or when combined with other available information. This includes direct identifiers like full names, NHS numbers, and email addresses; indirect identifiers such as date of birth or workplace that could identify someone when combined; and context-dependent identifiers like IP addresses or device IDs. For example, while a person's age alone might not identify them, combining it with their job title and city of residence could make them identifiable – such as "a 45-year-old pediatric surgeon in Bolton, Greater Manchester" might be specific enough to identify a particular individual, even without naming them directly. This type of data requires special handling under various privacy regulations like GDPR to protect individuals' privacy and prevent unauthorized access or misuse. See also: Direct Identifier 🔗. See also: Indirect Identifier 🔗. See also: Identifiable Data 🔗.
Pseudonymisation	The replacement of direct identifiers within a dataset with pseudonyms so that the data no longer directly identifies individuals. In contrast to Anonymisation, pseudonymisation provides the option of reinstating the original identifiers should they be needed and also allows for the linking of datasets through the creation of common pseudonyms. See: Pseudonymisation 🔗. See also: Anonymisation. See also: Anonymisation and pseudonymisation 🔗.