Internet Security and Programming

The Washington Post today carries a story I wrote about new research, which 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, a finding they say compromises the security of one of the most widely used consumer identifiers in the United States. The full story is here. I’m mentioning it in the blog to call attention to some resources and additional information on this subject for readers who are interested in digging deeper. In the story, we wrote of the two Carnegie Mellon University researchers: Acquisti and Gross found that it was far easier to predict SSNs for people born after 1988, when the Social Security Administration began an effort to ensure that U.S. newborns obtained their SSNs shortly after birth. They were able to identify all nine digits for 8.5 percent

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