Credit agencies use your SSN to identify you. The banks use your SSN to identify you. The IRS uses your SSN to identify you. The medical system uses your SSN to identify you. Countless other agencies use your SSN to identify you. This isn't so much a problem except that they also use it as an authentication token which is ridiculous.
To authenticate yourself over the phone, all you need to recite is:
* Name
* DOB
* SSN
* Address
* Mother's maiden name
None of this is private. From a privacy perspective, to think this is secure information is ridiculous on its face. Identity fraud is only limited by a criminal's risk tolerance and various companys' fraud prevention measures.
Brunswick
npub1c8…q6lkc
2024-09-10 13:02:41
in reply to nevent1q…avyk
Author Public Key
npub1c856kwjk524kef97hazw5e9jlkjq4333r6yxh2rtgefpd894ddpsmq6lkcPublished at
2024-09-10 13:02:41Event JSON
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"content": "Credit agencies use your SSN to identify you. The banks use your SSN to identify you. The IRS uses your SSN to identify you. The medical system uses your SSN to identify you. Countless other agencies use your SSN to identify you. This isn't so much a problem except that they also use it as an authentication token which is ridiculous.\n\nTo authenticate yourself over the phone, all you need to recite is:\n* Name\n* DOB\n* SSN\n* Address\n* Mother's maiden name\n\nNone of this is private. From a privacy perspective, to think this is secure information is ridiculous on its face. Identity fraud is only limited by a criminal's risk tolerance and various companys' fraud prevention measures.\n\n",
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