Which process involves permanently removing personal identifiers from data?

Anonymization is the process that involves permanently removing personal identifiers from data, rendering it impossible to identify the individual to whom the data originally belonged. This is crucial in various fields, especially in compliance with privacy regulations such as GDPR or HIPAA, as it ensures that the data can no longer be traced back to an individual.

By removing all identifiable information, anonymized data can be used for analysis or research purposes without risking individual privacy. This process helps organizations utilize data while safeguarding personal information, thus aligning with privacy standards and ethical considerations in data handling. In contrast, other methods like de-identification or pseudonymization do not achieve the same level of anonymity, as they may retain some identifiers that could potentially lead back to the original individuals. Aggregation involves summarizing data, which may reduce specificity but does not remove identifiers in the way that anonymization does. Therefore, the correct answer reflects the thoroughness of the process used to protect individual privacy in data management.