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All U.S. Social Security numbers may need to be changed following a massive breach that is already being investigated as a national threat (www.ecoticias.com)
submitted 8 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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According to a protected disclosure filed with the Office of Special Counsel, Borges told the Government Accountability Project that DOGE officials working at Social Security created a “live copy” of the country’s Social Security records in a separate cloud environment that sidestepped usual security checks.

The group says those lapses put the Social Security information of more than 300 million Americans at risk.

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[–] 29 points 8 months ago (3 children)

ssn was never intended to be a form of identification. it was specifically decided that it would not be used as a form of identification by the administration that controlled it

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  • [–] 10 points 8 months ago

    Besides, it's a really bad form of ID. The numbers aren't even unique, and up until 2011, a few digits are reserved for geographical information.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_number#Structure

    If I had to reach for a hasty solution, it would be to use the IRS taxpayer ID instead. Of course, that might weaken the SSA's importance overall, so that wouldn't be without consequences: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individual_Taxpayer_Identification_Number

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