Educause Security Discussion mailing list archives
Re: Last 4 digits of SSN and birthdate
From: Dewitt Latimer <dewitt () ND EDU>
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2005 13:50:43 -0500
Why not print a bar code on the pledge card (keyed to the appropriate DB index) and retrofit the data entry stations with scanners. It's pretty easy and cheap to implement these days. -d -----Original Message----- From: Valdis Kletnieks [mailto:Valdis.Kletnieks () VT EDU] Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2005 1:46 PM To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU Subject: Re: [SECURITY] Last 4 digits of SSN and birthdate On Wed, 26 Oct 2005 12:49:31 CDT, Elizabeth Shannon said:
A representative of University Advancement contacted me and wanted to know if printing a person's birthday (MM/DD/YYYY) and the last 4 digits of the person's SSN on pledge cards was acceptable.
Printing the last 4 digits isn't a good idea, because in the context of a university, the first 5 digits are often easy to guess based on the state and the year the person was born. So for instance, our incoming freshmen there's a very good chance that the first 3 digits are 223- through 231- if the SSN was issued in Virginia. The second 2 digits are a 'group number', and with some sleuthing you can find what likely group numbers in a given year in a given state were being issued. More info at: http://members.tripod.com/%7Egene_pool/3invssn2.htm
Current thread:
- Last 4 digits of SSN and birthdate Elizabeth Shannon (Oct 26)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: Last 4 digits of SSN and birthdate Matthew Dalton (Oct 26)
- Re: Last 4 digits of SSN and birthdate Tim Howard (Oct 26)
- Re: Last 4 digits of SSN and birthdate Valdis Kletnieks (Oct 26)
- Re: Last 4 digits of SSN and birthdate Dewitt Latimer (Oct 26)
- Re: Last 4 digits of SSN and birthdate Sarah Stevens (Oct 26)
- Re: Last 4 digits of SSN and birthdate Rebecca Ramos (Oct 26)
- Re: Last 4 digits of SSN and birthdate Kevin Shalla (Oct 26)
- Re: Last 4 digits of SSN and birthdate Brian Reilly (Oct 26)
- Re: Last 4 digits of SSN and birthdate Mark T. Nardone (Oct 27)
- Re: Last 4 digits of SSN and birthdate Dan Updegrove (Oct 28)