Posted on 11/04/2018 9:50:34 AM PST by re_tail20
At a recent panel on modernizing Social Security numbers, Candace Worley, vice president and chief technical strategist for cybersecurity firm McAfee, laid out the core problem with the national identity system that has been in place since 1936.
“You can’t have 80 percent of your numbers compromised and continue to consider it a secure form of identity,” Worley said.
Social Security Numbers, or SSNs, remain an integral part of how Americans and U.S. residents are identified for everything from opening bank accounts and applying for loans to enrolling in Medicare and filing taxes. But a series of major data breaches in the past decade have exposed the Social Security numbers of almost 158 million Americans, opening a large majority of the country to the risk of identity theft.
Those breaches have pushed privacy advocates and politicians to call for a new system.
“Time is of the essence,” Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas, chairman of the House Social Security Subcommittee, said. “We must promptly evaluate options and begin putting in place those that will best protect Americans from identity theft.”
The problem is well-recognized, but the solution is not. Experts and politicians have warned that the SSN system is badly in need of an update, but there is little consensus on just what should be done. Most solutions are either technologically untested, expensive to implement — or both.
GET SMART
One of the most common suggestions for updating SSNs is moving the U.S. to a “smart card” system, like the one suggested in a recent report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, or CSIS, a nonprofit research organization that aims to provide solutions for current and emerging foreign policy and national security issues
“The simplest approach to modernization would be for the U.S. to transform the venerable Social Security Card...
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
The Social Security number was specifically NOT for identification. Said so on my Social Security Card.
You can only get out some percent of what you put in. Period. The disabled authorization for benefits by those not having put into the system has destroyed the entire thing.
***and continue to consider it a secure form of identity,***
The SS card and number was never supposed to be used for ID.
Wait till you are given a choice. A chip in the back of the palm or forehead, or a bullet in the back of the head.
SSN cards used to state in caps “NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION PURPOSES”. Why was that changed?
There WAS no solution in sight as our own past president used faked SSN.
Now we can fix it, President Trump has six more years to go.
Blockchain! It’s the solution for everything!
I’ve been crowing about this for years.
First, the number. It has no check digit(s). Stupid.
Second, the usage. It is the de facto personal identification card. On mine, the original, it says “not for identification.”
It’s a bloody retirement account number! But through deliberate inaction, the government let it be used as a personal identification number.
It is NOT a tax filing number! It’s a bloody retirement account number!
It was NOT meant to be an index to your criminal file in a huge government database! It’s a bloody retirement account number!
It was NOT meant to be an index to your personal financial information in a credit bureau’s database! It’s a bloody retirement account number!
Recently the Medicare administration issued new cards, with numbers NOT based on SSN. A very good move!
Changing the SS card to a “smart” card is the most colossally stupid idea I have heard of! Only “experts” could suggest that.
bump
What freeman says. Do this.
You know that’s going to be the “solution”. It’s happening plenty of places already.
Oh - they signed everybody up for Lifelock or credit protection or some BS like that.
= = =
Yeah, for like 2 years.
So, at 2.00001 years the waiting bad guys (sorry girls) attack.
So they want to overhaul SS numbers of approximately 400 million people, but getting everyone registered to vote is impossible?
Congress made a sacred promise to the American people that the SS number would NEVER would never be used for identification. Let that be a guide to any promise they make.
How do you fix a paper card same paper card as Medicare card with NO SECURITY in it.
We’ve still yet to receive the “new’ Medicare Card.
My Military ID has more Security in it, and is encased in plastic with Security codes. So does my DL and Gun Permit.
This is and has been true for decades. Our politicians are more interested in power and privilege than tackling real problems.
My Card says the same. I got it when I was 8 back in 1969.
Are you saying that nobody gets Social Security Disability ?
No. I’m saying that there are tons and tons that are getting it, that shouldn’t be getting it.
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