EU Social Security Number (SSN) or Equivalent ID

Detects references to EU Social Security Number (SSN) or Equivalent ID using keyword matching. This pattern is based on a Microsoft Purview built-in sensitive information type. Users already running Purview may prefer to enable the built-in SIT directly, or use this version as a starting point for customisation.

Type: regex
Engine: universal
Confidence: medium
Confidence justification: Medium confidence: pattern has structural constraints but corroborative keywords are recommended to reduce false positive rates. Added context gating and exclusion rules improve precision and reduce incidental matches.
Detection quality: Mixed
Jurisdictions: eu
Regulations: GDPR
Frameworks: ISO 27001, ISO 27701
Data categories: pii, government-id
Scope: wide
Risk rating: 9
Platform compatibility: Purview: Compatible, GCP DLP: Compatible, Macie: Compatible, Zscaler: Compatible, Palo Alto: Degraded, Netskope: Unsupported

Pattern

(?i)\\b(?:eu\\s+social\\s+security\\s+number\\s+\(ssn\)\\s+or\\s+equivalent\\s+id|social|security|ssn|equivalent)\\b

Corroborative evidence keywords

social security, SSN, sozialversicherung, sécurité sociale, previdenza sociale, ID number, identification, ID card, license, permit, registration, certificate, field, column, row, entry, record, value, form, register (+21 more)

Proximity: 300 characters

Should match

social security number — English keyword match
sozialversicherungsnummer — German keyword match
numéro de sécurité sociale — French keyword match

Should not match

employee benefits plan — Non-SSN reference
insurance policy number — Generic insurance reference
template example placeholder record identifier — Template/sample context should be excluded even when anchor words are present

Known false positives

Broad keyword matching across EU languages may match general policy discussion, training materials, or compliance documentation. Mitigation: Layer with additional contextual signals such as structured identifiers or form fields to distinguish actual data from policy references.
In multiple languages, similar terminology used in formal or administrative contexts (education, professional documentation) that does not constitute sensitive data collection. Mitigation: Layer with additional contextual signals such as structured identifiers, form fields, or database column headers to distinguish sensitive records from general references.

References

EU Social Security Number (SSN) or Equivalent ID entity definition - Microsoft Learn