Confidential data

Definition of confidential data¶

Confidential data is sensitive data that doesn’t identify someone personally, but it is information that still needs to remain private.

Confidential data should not be shared when there are:

• Commercial constraints (for example, information about how commercial businesses are operated or analyses of commercial products).

• Security constraints (such as military information that could pose a risk to national security).

• Ethical considerations (including the question of who needs to have a say in the management of the data, see CARE).

• Risk of harm to subjects of research (see Biological data for more detailed considerations).

• Legal constraints (such as data protection acts or copyright regulations).

Some ways to recognise confidential data are:

• information considered private by an individual.

• the need to limit availability of the data for specific functions, groups or roles.

• the need to limit data to certain users based on a ‘need to know’ basis for business operations.

For us as individuals, confidential data is information such as passwords, financial information, and phone numbers. All of the information in our medical records that does not personally identify us would also be considered confidential, such as the notes doctors make when we visit them or test results.

For businesses, confidential data includes trade secrets, investigations, and data protected by intellectual property rights. It can also include security information that relates to national security and military information.

Datasets often contain combinations of personal and confidential data.

Data sharing agreements¶

To exchange or manage confidential data, it may be needed to set up a data sharing agreement covering points such as:

• (the duration of) data access

• data transfer

• ‘ownership’ of and responsibility for resulting collated or aggregated data, as well as an authorship.

• Accessing the data via secure environments

More information¶

• Thorpe et al. 2026