[LUNI] Re: OT SS Numbers (was 1 Phish - 2 Phish)

[Michael Scott]

Quoting sean-lynch at sean-lynch.com:

> We could go to alpha characters in 
> some the positions  to increase the possible values 
> without having to expand record sizes. That should be 
> easier to implement.

What we really need is something more secure than a 9-digit number.
Something like 2-factor authentication (something you have and something you
know), like a crypto token and a PIN.

Hell, I need at least that to connect to my office from a remote site using VPN,
but somebody can steal my entire life by knowing a simple sequence of numbers.

BTW this number is in a lot more places that I care to think about.  Every time
you apply for a loan or a credit card.  Plus a lot of universities use them as
student IDs.  When I lived in Iowa back in the 70's your SSN was your driver's
license number.  Of course those were simpler times before identity theft.

I shudder to think how many places this info is floating around.

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- Mike Scott
- mscott at pyewacket.org