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Posted on 07/06/2009 5:34:11 PM PDT by stylin_geek
There’s a new reason to worry about the security of your Social Security number. Turns out, they can be guessed with relative ease.
A group of researchers at Carnegie-Mellon University say they’ve discovered patterns in the issuance of numbers that make it relatively easy to deduce the personal information using publicly available information and some basic statistical analysis.
The research could have far-ranging implications for financial institutions and other firms that rely on Social Security numbers to ward off identity theft. It could also unleash a wave of criminal imitators who will try to duplicate the research.
(Excerpt) Read more at redtape.msnbc.com ...
Ping.
First three numbers tell where you were born.
...the same government that says SSNs can’t be used for identification. LOL. That’s all they’re used for - that and proof of purchase for the social security sweepstakes.
Have at it folks!
http://people.howstuffworks.com/social-security-number2.htm
http://people.howstuffworks.com/social-security-number2.htm
I don’t believe that this has ever been some dep, dark secret, LOL!
How appropriate that MSNBC has something called the REDtape Chronicles.
“Researchers say they can guess your SSN”
What do ya win if they guess your SNN AND your weight?
; )
No, only in this last generation because they are immediately issued an SSN after birth. I’m of the generation that didn’t get an SSN until we started to work (for taxes you see...), I was in NM at the time but I was born in Texas.
First three of mine indicates West Virginia.
I've never lived in nor was I born in West Virginia.
It’s not a matter of how it works, that part is fairly public information.
What the article says is that with very little information about someone, they can get the whole number.
If you were born in Kenya your first 3 numbers are ... 666
The problem seems to be that the “last 4” (or more) are often used as informal identifiers in places like banks where the security isn’t always as good as it ought to be. Find one of those, find the birthplace prefix, and find a situation where you are supposed to enter the number into a system and the system will accept or reject it at that point (like my bank’s telephone banking system), and not too many guesses are required.
I understand.
Heck, with CCAP you can look up criminal records; there’s really no place to hide these days. Those are public info too...but as an employer, you’re not supposed to know about that or use that information to sway your opinion of an applicant. *WINK*
http://wcca.wicourts.gov/index.xsl
Your medicare number is your social security number. It is not secure in any way for anyone age 65 or over.
Mine doesn’t. Of course, I got it when I was 1. lol
There has been a change in the works for that for awhile.But, many of the Medicare and Medicaid programs do use the SS# as identifiers.
Diana, isn’t CCAP amazing? Helped my boss know better than to rent to a convicted pedophole(thru his step-dad-long story).
Pretty scary how much info is out there. For $35(or less), you can pretty much find out anything about anyone.
Another wonderfully productive use of grant (ie tax payer) money.
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