Randolph E. Schmid
Social Security number code cracked, study claims
WASHINGTON — 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.
“It’s good that we found it before the bad guys,” Alessandro Acquisti of Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh said of the method for predicting the numbers.
Acquisti and Ralph Gross report in Tuesday’s edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that they were able to make the predictions using data available in public records as well as information such as birthdates cheerfully provided on social networks such as Facebook.
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 Social Security 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.
For smaller states their accuracy was considerably higher than in larger ones.
Acquisti said in a telephone interview that he has sent the findings to the Social Security Administration and other government agencies with a suggestion they adopt a more random system for assigning numbers.
Social Security spokesman Mark Lassiter said the public should not be alarmed by the report “because there is no foolproof method for predicting a person’s Social Security number.”
“The suggestion that Mr. Acquisti has cracked a code for predicting an SSN is a dramatic exaggeration,” Lassiter said via e-mail.
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.”
The researchers say their report omits some details to make sure they aren’t providing criminals a blueprint for obtaining the numbers.
The predictability of the numbers increases the risk of identity theft, which cost Americans almost $50 billion in 2007 alone, Acquisti said.
A problem in the battle against identity thieves is that many businesses use Social Security numbers as passwords or for other forms of authentication, something that was not anticipated when Social Security was devised in the 1930s. The Social Security Administration has long cautioned educational, financial and health care institutions against using the numbers as personal identifiers.
“In a world of wired consumers, it is possible to combine information from multiple sources to infer data that is more personal and sensitive than any single piece of original information alone,” he said, warning against providing too much data on social network sites.
Acquisti, who researches the economics of privacy, said he got interested in what could be learned from easily available by looking at social networks, which he termed “a great experiment in self-revelation.”
People were willing to include their date of birth and hometown, he said, and he already knew that was part of the information used in issuing Social Security numbers.
So the researchers turned to the SSA’s “Death Master File,” which lists the numbers of people who have died. The purpose of making that file public is to prevent impostors from assuming the Social Security numbers of deceased people.
But by plotting the data for people listed on the file between 1973 and 2003 the researchers were able to develop patterns for number issuance.
“I was surprised by the accuracy of certain predictions,” Acquisti said.
The system can produce a range of possibilities for the last four numbers, making it easier for a computer to test the possibilities until the correct number is found for an individual, Acquisti explained.
In addition, “attackers can exploit various public- and private-sector online services, such as online “instant” credit approval sites, to test subsets of variations to verify which number corresponds to an individual with a given birth date.
While it was well known that the numbers have a geographic component, past studies have used the patterns plus other data to estimate when and where a specific number may have been issued.
“Our work focuses on the inverse, harder, and much more consequential inference: it shows that it is possible to exploit the presumptive time and location of SSN issuance to estimate, quite reliably, unknown SSNs,” Acquisti said.
The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Army Research Office, Carnegie-Mellon University and the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center.
On the Net:
www.pnas.org
Related News
Culture, not genetics, encourages people towards self-sacrifice among strangersOctober 13th, 2009 WASHINGTON - It is not the genes that make a person to go for blood donation or enrol for the army, for researchers have now attributed such self-sacrificing attitude to socially learned behaviour rather than an inherent trait. Led by Adrian V.
India signs Social Security Agreement with LuxembourgSeptember 30th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India Wednesday entered into a Social Security Agreement with Luxembourg to provide benefits to Indian nationals working in the European country. The agreement, signed by Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi, who is on a tour to Luxembourg, and Mars di Bartolomeo, Luxembourg's minister for social security, comes after negotiations held here last year.
Like humans, fruit flies too learn from experienced femalesSeptember 17th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Like humans, novice fruit flies tend to learn from their more experienced counterparts i.e. mated fruit flies, say researchers.
Bugged by decline in native ladybug species, NY researchers talk about the birds and beesSeptember 4th, 2009 NY researchers give ladybugs a birds-and-bees talkITHACA, N.Y. — A year after they launched a nationwide search for dwindling native ladybugs, New York researchers are breeding colonies of them from insects found by citizen scientists in Oregon and Colorado.
India, Switzerland sign social security agreementSeptember 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - India and Switzerland Thursday signed a social security agreement to encourage the movement of professionals between the two countries. The social security agreement was signed in the presence of Doris Leuthard, the visiting vice president of the Swiss Confederation who is also minister of economic affairs.
Early life nurturing influences social behaviors in adulthoodSeptember 1st, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study, conducted by researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, has shown that early life nurturing impacts later life relationships. The researchers used prairie voles as a model to understand the neurochemistry of social behavior.
Utah robbery suspect nabbed when back of note lists name, Social Security number, birth dateAugust 18th, 2009 Holdup note helps nab alleged robber in UtahMURRAY, Utah — The detailed information on the back of the demand note in a Utah bank robbery made it pretty easy for authorities to arrest a suspect. Charging documents from U.S.
Is Wikipedia heading for bust?August 5th, 2009 LONDON - A new study, conducted by researchers at the Palo Alto Research Center in California, has shown that Wikipedia's ascendancy to the top of a large pool of online reference sites may be coming to an end because the community-created encyclopaedia has become less welcoming to new contributors. he research team has warned that the changes could compromise the encyclopaedia's quality in the long term.
Personalised feedback on drinking behaviours could reduce alcohol misuseJuly 8th, 2009 WASHINGTON - If students are given personalised feedback on their drinking behaviour and the social norms associated with the problem, it could help them reduce alcohol misuse, according to a Cochrane Systematic Review. Many social science researches have claimed that students tend to overestimate the amount of alcohol that their peers consume.
People seek truth, but are partial to like-minded viewsJuly 1st, 2009 WASHINGTON - People swim in a sea of information, but filter out most of what they see and hear. A new analysis of dozens of studies shows that while people tend to avoid information that contradicts what they already think or believe, certain factors, however, can cause them to seek out, or at least consider, other points of view.
Echolocation helps bats recognize each otherJune 5th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Bats use echolocation not only to navigate their surroundings also to recognize each other, a study has found. The study, by researchers at the University of Tuebingen, Germany, and the University of Applied Sciences in Konstanz, Germany, explains how bats use echolocation for more than just spatial knowledge.
Conscientious, neurotic mates can improve one's healthApril 29th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Looking for a partner? Well, then go for a mate who is conscientious and, perhaps, also neurotic, suggests a new study. Researchers report that having a conscientious partner may actually be good for one's health.
Stress of early life social isolation may enhance juvenile response to cocaineApril 17th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Experiments on rats conducted by researchers at the University of Puerto Rico have shown that isolation during early development alters the brain sensitivity to cocaine. Researchers Natasha Lugo-Escobar, Nicole Carreras, and Annabell C.
Kids watching R-rated movies more likely to smokeFebruary 23rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Kids permitted to watch R-rated movies are more likely to believe it's easy to get a cigarette than those who aren't allowed to watch such films, according to a new study. 'We don't know why this is so.
Can't help being life of party? Thank your genesJanuary 27th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Have you ever wondered that genes could be the key to your popularity and being the life of any party and how it helps you network socially?
Researchers from the universities of Harvard and California-San Diego have found evidence showing our standing in a social network that is influenced partly by genes. This is the first study to examine the inherited characteristics of social networks and to establish a genetic role in the formation and configuration of these networks.
Loading ...