Social Security Number Code Cracked?

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	Social Security Number Code Cracked?

chestnut501

7-7-2009 3:47 AM

390 views

tags:

news, government, social-security, ssa, science, code-cracked, privacy, identity-theft, public-records, birthdate

chestnut501 says:

For all the concern about identity theft, researchers say there's a surprisingly easy way for the technology-savvy to figure out the precious nine digits of Americans' Social Security numbers.

2 Comments |

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7-7-2009 9:18 AM

gemfemfox

Many criminals use random programs to use credit card numbers too.

There is no way to be 100% secure in a society that has evolved to identification by number.

Numbers are not random, so they can be guessed with some "accuracy."

7-13-2009 1:27 PM

wes50

If you believe that the agency is coming up with a random method of generating SS numbers for totally unrelated reasons, I'd like to sell you a bridge.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/24eb0ff4-4c10-4b20-afc9-3ab4610dda6b/F6E5ECF5-4F82-4A21-8AC6-9A3C6040B72C/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_sci_identity_theft;_ylt=AolCsUPDVsrNkPqPO_IaIOJ0fNdF" href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_sci_identity_theft;_ylt=AolCsUPDVsrNkPqPO_IaIOJ0fNdF" style="font-size: 11px;">news.yahoo.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_sci_identity_theft;_ylt=AolCsUPDVsrNkPqPO_IaIOJ0fNdF">For all the concern about <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1246915302_0>identity 
theft</SPAN>, researchers say there's a surprisingly easy way for the 
technology-savvy to figure out the precious nine digits of Americans' <SPAN 
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1246915302_1 
style="BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; CURSOR: hand; BORDER-BOTTOM: #0066cc 1px dashed">Social 
Security numbers</SPAN>.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_sci_identity_theft;_ylt=AolCsUPDVsrNkPqPO_IaIOJ0fNdF">they were able to make the predictions using data available in public records as 
well as information such as birthdates cheerfully provided on <SPAN 
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1246915302_3 
style="BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; CURSOR: hand; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none">social 
networks</SPAN> such as <SPAN class=yshortcuts 
id=lw_1246915302_4>Facebook</SPAN>.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_sci_identity_theft;_ylt=AolCsUPDVsrNkPqPO_IaIOJ0fNdF"><P>For people born after 1988 — when the government began issuing numbers at birth — the researchers were able to identify, in a single attempt, the first five <SPAN id="lw_1246915302_5">Social Security</SPAN> digits for 44 percent of individuals. And they got all nine digits for 8.5 percent of those people in fewer than 1,000 attempts.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_sci_identity_theft;_ylt=AolCsUPDVsrNkPqPO_IaIOJ0fNdF"> the public should not be alarmed by the report "because there is no foolproof 
method for predicting a person's <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1246915302_7 
style="BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; CURSOR: hand; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none">Social 
Security number</SPAN>."</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_sci_identity_theft;_ylt=AolCsUPDVsrNkPqPO_IaIOJ0fNdF"><P>However, he added: "For reasons unrelated to this report, the agency has been developing a system to randomly assign SSNs. This system will be in place next year."</P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/F6E5ECF5-4F82-4A21-8AC6-9A3C6040B72C/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>