Hackers claimed to have stolen more than 2 billion records containing sensitive information including Social Security numbers, with some data reportedly leaked online.
Why do those numbers even exist? In my country we got ID cards and passports, plus some tax identifier that is used for social security and tax payments by our employer into the accounts, and that’s that. All that’s required for actual identification is a valid ID (including passport as long as you have a recent address registration). Their numbers change every 10 years, or you could apply to have it replaced earlier.
SSN isn’t even meant to be used to verify identity, really. It’s just supposed to be used to track people paying into the social security system. Somehow it got tied up in identity verification even though all it is is some essentially random number.
Why do those numbers even exist? In my country we got ID cards and passports, plus some tax identifier that is used for social security and tax payments by our employer into the accounts, and that’s that. All that’s required for actual identification is a valid ID (including passport as long as you have a recent address registration). Their numbers change every 10 years, or you could apply to have it replaced earlier.
SSN isn’t even meant to be used to verify identity, really. It’s just supposed to be used to track people paying into the social security system. Somehow it got tied up in identity verification even though all it is is some essentially random number.