Slashdot Mirror
Identity Theft-What Can Really be Done w/o a SSN?
TheItalianGuy asks: "Many of us that work in the financial sector are bombarded with daily security threats. One of the biggest these days is Identity Theft. My fellow comrades and I have been really grilling each other on differing scenarios on what could be done with what information. However, it all seems to come back the the Social Security Number. Financial companies have other controls in place (customer service verification checking, account passwords, etc) to ensure identification. But in order to be of any use, a bad guy would really need someone's SSN. Absent of that, other information would be useless. Right? That's what I would like to ask Slashdot folks. What could be realistically done with customer information without a SSN? Account numbers, address, maybe a phone or payment amount. Is that really dangerous to the customer if only those get compromised?"
Incidentally, Richard Nixon's social security number is 567-68-0515; there are many cases where a given agency doesn't actually need your number, and it's perfectly appropriate to give them his instead. Have fun.
I used to carry a bottle of whiskey for snake bite. And two snakes. -Nefarious Wheel
I never thought I'd have an issue with identity theft, as a Vice President at a top 5 U.S. bank (in IT, of course). Two years ago, I was building a MythTV DVR PC, and wanted to get a good deal. I scoured the internet for the lowest prices on every individual component, and along the way, apparently ended up giving my Visa CheckCard number to the wrong person.
Suffice to say, they did not need my SSN, or anything beyond what would normally be used to purchase items online. I found out when my card was denied at a store - the theif had emptied my primary checking account, and because I had overdraft protection, the attached savings account in one night. Nice thing was, the bank immediately reimbursed me for the fraudlent purchases, followed up with the police, and prosecuted. (Not simply because I am an employee, mind you - but I did get something most people in my situation don't, follow-up. Typically, the bank reimburses a customer and follows up with the authorities separately - without ever contacting the customer again unless required.)
Now, I use a random card number service associated with my credit card to purchase anything on the internet. It may not be the worst form of identity theft, but it can be inconvient, expensive, and time-consuming to recover. I had to deal with bounced checks for bills, and set the fraud alert on my credit bureaus as a result of this. It's certainly worth using a temporary card service if your bank or credit card company offer it.
Just my "It happened to me" tale, but it's one we hear over and over again these days.
"Adventure? Excitement? A Jedi craves not these things."
I've been helping a relative with Alzheimer's, and I've been able to do pretty much anything I wanted, aside from dealing with actual money.
Telephone service is particularly easy to mess with; I just called repairs and ordered service changes and no attempt was ever made to check on me. I was able to add and delete services, change phone numbers and billing addresses, etc. I didn't even have be at the service location to order any changes.
For utility accounts, all the info I've ever needed was on the bills. Again, I was able to change services, update billing records, etc. all without any difficulty. It's been very convenient for me to be able to set things up without having to muck around with Powers of Attorney and so on, but it gives me the shivers to realize what must be possible to one "skilled in the arts".
Once you have utility bills with your address on them you can establish a residence and a lot of stuff follows from that. For instance, I could easily get a library card and enroll my kids in school in the town where this relative lives.
With a little bit of creativity I could probably do stuff with money, too. I guess it's a good thing I'm honest, huh?
A little old lady had moved a year earlier, and a credit card co. sent her "checks" to use against her credit card... to the old address. So, whoever moved in there (or whoever stole the mail) was using the checks before they expired for things that were nondescript. Wrote the checks to pay some bills and buy some things, local address sure come on in no id required.Yes it is that easy and that simple. However, if you have all the pieces it gets much worse.
I'm waiting for RIDS - Retinal Identification System, gonna use my glass eye, eh Sammy?
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing. Emo Philips
I talked with a few lawyer and cop friends about this and put on the back of my check card (I don't use credit cards), "ASK FOR PHOTO ID" in big, red letters. My understanding is since I've notified the Credit Union of this, in writing, if anyone uses a fake card in person, or steals it and doesn't show an ID, the merchant is at fault, since they did not check the signature and ask for the ID, as stated in place of the signature. I don't worry too much about it, though. They are excellent at detecting any sign of fraud activity, and have called me several times to verify transactions outside of my normal purchase habits. I'd much rather get false alarms like that then have them ignore it.
All you need is one piece of information if you are a good con man.
In other words, the SSN may in fact be critical to most realy disastrous identity thefts, but a smart thief can get the SSN based on very little prior information.
For example, you can get a official copy of a birth certificate with a wink and a smile. With that you can register for classes at the local community college. A student ID with your birth certificate is enough to get your Social Security card, even if you don't know the number. Student ID can also qualify as proof of residence in an area, which combined with the aforementioned social security card and birth certificate is enough to get a state ID or drivers license.
Badda boom, you have a complete identity, including paper trail, without anything more complicated than forging a signature
Since Social Security numbers are non-random, could they be sourced? The first 3 digits are where you were born geographically, and if you knew the year, you could narrow it down to a few thousand possibilities, right? then use death records or something to narrow that further?
I don't know what impact this has on the discussion, but it seemed important to consider.
To elaborate (but at risk of going off-topic), the basic idea is that if someone wants to store information about you, you should have the right to make them store it on your machine. They can sign it or whatever to prevent you from tampering with it, but if they want to see it again, they should have to ask your permission. As long as it's reasonable, you can let them see it--unless you change your mind. Even including your SSN.
This is not really as radical as it might seem. Only a few years ago, pretty much all of your personal information was stored in your punkin head, so to speak. If someone wanted to know about you, they HAD to ask you. From that perspective, the essential principle of the Fifth Amendment is that you didn't have to tell them if you don't feel like it. However, these days it is increasingly less necessary to ask you anything--someone else already owns your data.
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
Each and every entity above can revoke the key at any time.
Merchant can revoke a transaction or deny a consumer (due to poor credit). Consumer can revoke identity if stolen with assurance it won't be used again ever. Arbitrator can authenticate/reject for both parties.
Zero identity theft.
This would require a smartcard that generates rotating public key protected by a PIN/fingerprint (I'm not big on biometric, but consumer ease of use is the key here).
Significant technical hurdles remains with regard to "WHOM" process the public-private key verification as it takes CPU-time. Perhaps the smartcard has advanced enough to the point where it can sign the keys.