Risk of using SS#s (last 4 digits) for authentication

["Jim Lawton" <jblii () hotmail com>]

We are currently considerring the limited use of employee's Social Security 
numbers to authenticate them when they request a password reset from the 
Help Desk.  We have chosen two items (in total) for authenticating them: 
their employee # and the last 4 digits of their SS#.  Only the last 4 digits 
would be stored in the Help Desk app, and these would be viewable only by 
Help Desk technicians.  They would only be able to see them by selecting a 
specific toolbar button (the SS# screen would not visible at all times).

We are concerned with the privacy issue potential if we use any part of a 
SS# but are unaware of any legal precedent, standard or guideline either 
supporting or against this use.  Does anyone have knowledge they can share, 
or know of web resources that might be useful to research this issue?

We are a corporation of roughly 1200 specializig in healthcare, and HIPAA 
privacy/security regs, NCQA and URAC acredidations must be taken into 
consideration.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or information.

JBL




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