Social Security number security flaw

General discussion of identity theft issues, including identity theft schemes, phishing scams, and related issues.
Judge Roy Bean
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Social Security number security flaw

Post by Judge Roy Bean »

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... id=topnews
Researchers have found that it is possible to guess many -- if not all -- of the nine digits in an individual's Social Security number using publicly available information, ...
The Honorable Judge Roy Bean
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Mr. Mephistopheles
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Re: Social Security number security flaw

Post by Mr. Mephistopheles »

I read a different article earlier today that noted new SSN's will be randomly generated beginning sometime this year.
Doktor Avalanche
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Re: Social Security number security flaw

Post by Doktor Avalanche »

Mr. Mephistopheles wrote:I read a different article earlier today that noted new SSN's will be randomly generated beginning sometime this year.
That should slow the guessers up, what, another fifteen seconds?
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Mr. Mephistopheles
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Re: Social Security number security flaw

Post by Mr. Mephistopheles »

Doktor Avalanche wrote:
Mr. Mephistopheles wrote:I read a different article earlier today that noted new SSN's will be randomly generated beginning sometime this year.
That should slow the guessers up, what, another fifteen seconds?
It is supposed to help a lot by doing away with the "regional codes" where SSN thieves can figure out the first 5 digits simply by knowing where and when a person was born.
jg
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Re: Social Security number security flaw

Post by jg »

This in no way qualifies as news.
See, for example, http://www.ssa.gov/history/ssn/geocard.html