What does anonymization of data mean?

Data anonymization means protecting individuals from being identified by the personally identifiable information (PII) stored about them. Methods of this anonymization can include encryption or generalization. Accurate ages such as 36 could and would become 20-30 through generalization.

By removing the personal reference, requirements of privacy policies such as CCPA or GDPR no longer apply to anonymized data. Anonymization is successful if re-identification would only be solvable with disproportionate effort. However, if we consider that the state of the art is constantly improving and computing capacities are also increasing, we should continually work on improving to protect sensitive data.