Personal Data Protection and Classified Information
(field of studies: Internal Security)

Data ( DAY-tə, DAT-ə, DAH-tə) is a set of values of qualitative or quantitative variables.

Information is any entity or form that provides the answer to a question of some kind or resolves uncertainty. It is thus related to data and knowledge, as data represents values attributed to parameters, and knowledge signifies understanding of real things or abstract concepts. As it regards data, the information's existence is not necessarily coupled to an observer (it exists beyond an event horizon, for example), while in the case of knowledge, the information requires a cognitive observer.