Privacy Alert: How Anyone Can Access Social Security Numbers on the Web

Joseph Campana PhD is a specialist on certified identity theft, information security and privacy. He is also a licensed investigator. He recently did an investigation on the accessibility of vital personal information, such as the Social Security numbers, on several counties’ government sites.

Several counties allow anybody to get access to other people’s SS numbers as well as other identity data. Getting a person’s Social Security Number will only cost you $5.95 and the person who owns that data is not even notified that somebody has accessed their records online.

Over 100 counties in the United States provide online access through a third party system known as Tapestry. The side effects of this accessibility can be identity theft, fraud and crimes committed using the identity of another person. It’s like giving crooks the ability to use another person’s identity and the local government should be reprimanded. They should take a more responsible response on how they handle the consumer records.

Identity theft costs businesses to lose up to a trillion dollars a year and it’s the consumers who ended up paying for this loss. In the government sector, it’s the taxpayers who bear the load.

Check out www.PrivacyDiary.com for Joe Campana’s blog. You may also visit www.PrivacyMakeOver.com

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February 19, 2009 | Filed Under Social Security Number 

Comments

One Response to “Privacy Alert: How Anyone Can Access Social Security Numbers on the Web”

  1. Joe Campana on March 20th, 2009 5:52 pm

    This situation may be worst than I thought because it appears that county clerks, recorders, and register of deeds may have motives from keeping this information from the public. One reason is limited funds to fix the problem and the other extreme is an apparent lack of priority.

    Take a look at this recent guest column I did:
    http://wistechnology.com/articles/5750/

    I can tell you without disclosing details, that this pressure I have been putting on the local county is causing discussion and potentially change. We’re going to keep it up–go statewide, and hope this information encourages others to do the same.

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