Educause Security Discussion mailing list archives
Re: Bare Social Social Security Numbers
From: Keith Schoenefeld <schoenk () UTULSA EDU>
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2006 10:28:32 -0600
Obviously, I'm ignorant as to how easy it is to do a reverse lookup based on SSNs, but the point remains, this is only slightly different than someone generating SSNs out of thin air utilizing the guidance that the SSA provides. With respect to picking random SSNs being a no no, I recognize that, I was just curious is other universities had policies to that effect. Does anyone here have such a policy? -- KS H. Morrow Long wrote:
On Mar 28, 2006, at 10:39 AM, Keith Schoenefeld wrote:I think it would be awfully tough for someone to actually put names to the SSNs.The following are advertised on Google: Social Security Numbers Lookup SSN Number online. Get instant access now. www.SSN-Finder.com Reverse SSN Lookup Enter a name or SSN & get info. Start with your preliminary search. www.civilrecords.org Find Annyone by SSN # Money Back Guarantee Locate Someone Today only $19.95 socialsecuritysearchusa.com SSN #s Lookup. Lookup SSN #. Verify People Info, Contacts, Background Check, More. www.check-ssn.com SSN Verification SSN Verification Solutions. Aliases Addresses And Phone Numbers. www.ewoss.com There is also an interesting project involving SSNs at CMU: http://privacy.cs.cmu.edu/dataprivacy/projects/ssnwatch/identitytheft.htmlOn a side note, we had a recent scare on campus where a faculty member had created an example database using real student names combined with a set of SSNs, addresses, phone numbers, etc. that were made up. ...According to the SSA there are a few sample SSA's which can be openly used and displayed -- such as 123-45-6789 and 999-99-9999. Webpage http://www.socialsecurity.gov/employer/stateweb.htm states "Any number beginning with 000 will NEVER be a valid SSN." No SSNs have apparently ever been issued beginning with a 9 either. I found a bunch of test SSNs at; http://www.hawaii.edu/metadir/attributes.html#uhSSN In google searching I did find a # of other cases where SSNs had just been generated out of thin air and posted on the Web (where some still are and some are cached in Google) as part of college programming assignments. Using other's potential or real SSNs should be a no-no. There is now a rule telephone #s in movies, television and music must start with exchange 555 -- remember 867-5309, customers in many exchanges had to change their phone numbers after that song as pranksters all over the US started calling it looking for Jenny. - H. Morrow Long, CISSP, CISM, CEH University Information Security Officer Director -- Information Security Office Yale University, ITS
Current thread:
- Re: Bare Social Social Security Numbers, (continued)
- Re: Bare Social Social Security Numbers Charles R. Morrow-Jones (Mar 27)
- Re: Bare Social Social Security Numbers Ken Connelly (Mar 27)
- Re: Bare Social Social Security Numbers Joel Rosenblatt (Mar 27)
- Re: Bare Social Social Security Numbers H. Morrow Long (Mar 27)
- Re: Bare Social Social Security Numbers Leo Tran (Mar 27)
- Re: Bare Social Social Security Numbers Gary Golomb (Mar 27)
- Re: Bare Social Social Security Numbers H. Morrow Long (Mar 28)
- Re: Bare Social Social Security Numbers Keith Schoenefeld (Mar 28)
- Re: Bare Social Social Security Numbers H. Morrow Long (Mar 28)
- Re: Bare Social Social Security Numbers H. Morrow Long (Mar 28)
- Re: Bare Social Social Security Numbers Keith Schoenefeld (Mar 28)
- Re: Bare Social Social Security Numbers Gary Flynn (Mar 28)
- Re: Bare Social Social Security Numbers Kevin Shalla (Mar 28)
- Re: Bare Social Social Security Numbers Pullman, Nick (Mar 28)
- Re: Bare Social Social Security Numbers scott hollatz (Mar 28)
- Re: Bare Social Social Security Numbers Jere Retzer (Mar 28)