Social Security not so secure: Who’s going to get fired for this one? No one.
If you’re like me, you sit at work thinking to yourself, “Hey, even though today was boring, I can retire in 43.5 years and collect monthly checks on taxpayer dollar! This is great! Social Security 4ever! Yeah!!”
Wait, wait…What’s that you say?
Two researchers have found that a pair of antifraud methods intended to increase the chances of detecting bogus social security numbers has actually allowed the statistical reconstruction of the number using information that many people place on social networking sites.
Let’s put that in layman’s terms:
[A] pair of Carnegie Mellon researchers has now demonstrated a technique that uses publicly available information to reconstruct SSNs with a startling degree of accuracy. … The accuracy of these algorithms is positively disturbing. Using a separate pool of data from the Death Master File, the authors were able to get the first five digits right for seven percent of those with an SSN assigned before 1988; after that, the success rate goes up to a staggering 44 percent. For a smaller state, like Vermont, they could get it right over 90 percent of the time.
So, the government’s own anti-SSN-fraud devices can be used to, in fact, defraud SSNs? Only the Federal Government could pull this one off. Who the heck runs the Social Security Administration, anyway? (PS- I hear Bernie Madoff is looking for work.)
Oh well, at least I was born before 1988. I just get cheated out of 12.5% of my bi-weekly paycheck. The rest of you young’uns get ripped off AND face getting your identities stolen. See you at FML.
User Comments
ADAM
July, 2009
Hi Joe,
If you do ANY research - you will find this is not one easy-to-blame person’s fault. just something that happened.
“Over time, however, private and public institutions began keeping tabs on consumers using the numbers, requiring people to present them as proof of identity, such as when applying for loans, new employment, or health insurance.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/06/AR2009070602955.html
i expect more than LAZY comments like this, JOE.
Joe L-E
July, 2009
BadAdam-
1. This one was written by Tim Ryder, not me, give the man some credit, lol.
2. Most likely the person who needs to be fired for this is long dead. Any “calculation” for anti fraud is obviously going to lead to a way for someone to figure it out. Evidently it’s so basic that some random guy in the studio at Q104.3 this morning was guessing numbers on his own.