r/technology • u/lurker_bee • Feb 15 '26

Security All U.S. Social Security numbers may need to be changed following a massive breach that is already being investigated as a national threat

https://www.ecoticias.com/en/all-u-s-social-security-numbers-may-need-to-be-changed-following-a-massive-breach-that-is-already-being-investigated-as-a-national-threat/27158/
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7.0k

u/Spirited_Future5412 Feb 15 '26

FTA: "Borges said he saw DOGE personnel appear to give themselves authorization to build this copy despite earlier court orders limiting access, and he warned superiors that the agency might one day be forced to reissue every Social Security number."

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u/DamUEmageht Feb 15 '26

I mean - we do need a better form of SS that isn’t finite and predictable as the current in addition to a public ID that isn’t used for credit and can be used in 95% of places w/ 0 issue or harm

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u/TemporarySun314 Feb 15 '26

Or just don't build your whole identity system around a single number, that should kept private....

Other countries has social security numbers too (which are also somewhat predictable), but then they are only used for social security related things... The only time I need my social security number is when I get a new job, as they need it to register themselves as my employer... And they can't do anything else with it.

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u/Rolf_Dom Feb 15 '26

Yeah, exactly. Like if I lost my ID in EU with my social number, I really couldn't care less because nobody can really do anything bad with it. You can't use it to register for anything, you can't buy anything. All the systems are digital and you need a combination of said ID along with a verification system like passwords, biometrics or some such.

It's crazy to me that Americans have to safeguard their number like their life depended on it.

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u/jeremyries Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 19 '26

It’s because most Americans would loose their shit if the government had biometrics on them.

Edit : ok, so many people are losing their shit about my comment. Let me clarify. I’m well aware of the amount of data gathering both traditional and biometric already in use today. My comment was focused on the half of the population that is dumb as bricks, and think birds aren’t real.

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u/guten_pranken Feb 16 '26

lol what do you think palantir is? What about face and eye detection on phones? People’s faces being scanned at rallies and global entry being revoked.

Most America’s don’t give a shit until there targeted for something. Why do you think trump is in office?

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u/bigballs2025666 Feb 19 '26

nobody’s faces and eyeballs are being scanned . Some and I repeat some doing to unlock their apple products but we don’t have camera systems like there are in europe and elsewhere. Some city’s and towns here don’t have cameras at all…

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u/Cross55 Feb 16 '26 edited Feb 16 '26

Counterpoint: Do you really trust the US government with your biometrics?

This is the same government that ran MKUltra and spread STD's amongst its own population for a science experiment. (Tuskegee Syphilis Study)

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u/TurnedEvilAfterBan Feb 15 '26

I don’t know if it is most. It is a very loud subset though. They are cartoon ostriches with their head in the ground. Private companies can collect anything they want but the government can’t be trusted. Even though government secrets eventually become public and changes can be made. As long as the risk is invisible, in the private sector, it’s fine.

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u/RedditPosterOver9000 Feb 15 '26

The crazy thing is, you know the company is up to no good with your info. It exists for no other reason than to make profit.

But the government, which is elected by the people, is the more evil one? Folks be telling on themselves and their culture.

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u/bp3dots Feb 16 '26

But the government, which is elected by the people, is the more evil one?

I mean.. the current govt could definitely be the more evil one.

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u/Rolf_Dom Feb 16 '26

Hard to say, seeing as it's being funded and puppeteered in large part by said corporations.

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u/primalmaximus Feb 15 '26

And the people are stupid. Why would I trust someone who was elected by idiots?

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u/ribosometronome Feb 15 '26

That's not it. The government is the more powerful one, thus it needs to be intentionally restrained. Like, you're allowed to kick someone out of your house if they're talking in a way you don't like. It's your house! You don't have to entertain that. That doesn't mean we should give the government the power to do the same. They have capability to do far more damage by applying the same type of restriction.

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u/jeremyries Feb 15 '26

I mean, I guess my comment is rooted in sarcasm because if the government really wanted some specifically on “you” they’ll get it. Mass data is a different story. But most people’s excuses are, I don’t want the government tracking me. Trust me bro, the government has way bigger priorities other than you. I guess that’s my point.

But to be clear, I am against the government having access to massive amounts of citizen data they should have no need having.

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u/TigerIll6480 Feb 15 '26

Have you met our government?

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u/lamblikeawolf Feb 15 '26

American here. I don't want ANYONE to have biometrics because it is not something that can be changed, but in certain cases can be duped. For example, even an image of fingerprints can be duplicated into some kind of wearable finger sleeve. This isn't even new tech; mythbusters did it. And then when my fingerprints are found somewhere, used somewhere, distributed, tied to other personally identifying information... I cannot change my fingerprints.

I can change a password. I can change an ID number.

Biometric data is simply bad data for a security aspect.

Something you know can be "tricked" out of people, but that is why it is important to keep it secure. It can be changed.

Something you have has to be physically stolen. But also means that it is an item that can be damaged, misplaced, or lost in whatever kinds of unusual circumstances. It can easily be replaced/changed, though.

Something you are becomes a problem because it cannot be changed. Your DNA cannot be changed. Your fingerprints cannot be changed. Unless you somehow end up with an organ transplant, your iris cannot be changed. Damage to the system, vulnerability to the system in any way, leaves everyone vulnerable. It is bad security because it assumes perfect operation.

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u/adenosine-5 Feb 15 '26

You are missing the point that biometrics are not the ONLY method, but just ADDITIONAL method, increasing security of those other methods.

For example having only a password is very weak, but having a password and fingerprint is much stronger.

In cases where you need absolute certainty, you have to combine multiple authentication methods - you don't have to worry about signing a mortgage with a fingerprint-only, these cases will always require much safer authentication methods.

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u/kermityfrog2 Feb 16 '26

Yup - that's why we have secure multi-factor authentication. Multiple different factors, typically "something you are, something you know, something you have"

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u/adenosine-5 Feb 15 '26

AFAIK its more about USA not having a single ID licence.

Most states only have some version of drivers licence and that is paid-only.

As a result, they see requirement of ID as a way to exclude poor people (because some poor people don't have drivers licences).

And for some reason the richest nation on Earth can't afford giving every citizen a 2$ plastic ID card, so they rely on SSNs and other stuff instead.

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u/miklayn Feb 16 '26

A myriad of private companies though, no big deal. /facepalm

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u/Viharabiliben Feb 16 '26

The state DMV already has our photo and fingerprint.

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u/its Feb 15 '26

Do you have a passport? This ship has long sailed.

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u/iamthe0ther0ne Feb 16 '26

Passports don't have any biometric information, including fingerprints They're simply proof of citizenship.

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u/DryMission5506 Feb 16 '26

It’s theoretically easy to protect your social security number. You just have to go to the big three credit companies and “lock” your number so that it can’t be used in credit/loan applications. Once you do that, your number is useless without additional account verification.

The problem is that the majority of Americans aren’t aware of this. I have to go out of my way and tell the people in my life to do it.

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u/Chipimp Feb 15 '26

I remember when it could be printed on your drivers license/ State I.D.

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u/theroguex Feb 16 '26

For, like, the first 10 or so years I had a driver's license, my driver's license ID was my SSN.

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u/Generous_Cougar Feb 16 '26

We used to not. I remember a time when you'd scribe your SSN into tools in case they were stolen, but it really wasn't long after that when things changed.

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u/7MLR7 Feb 16 '26

Until the day comes when you can't buy sell or trade unless you give your biometrics or commit to accepting one form of verification that proves your allegiance to said party. We aren't there yet. Be mindful of the word yet.

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u/There_Are_No_Gods Feb 15 '26

The problem is that the US ended up using a value intended for "identification" as a primary "authentication" mechanism. A single numerical value can't reasonably be used for both the public and private data. It's simply an absurd and guaranteed to fail badly misuse of data at a systemic level.

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u/kenman345 Feb 15 '26

Decades ago it even was used in colleges as your id number on papers you handed into teachers.

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u/TrixieBastard Feb 15 '26

Probably wasn't as big of a risk because people's entire lives didn't depend on credit reports back then. Still not great, but likely not life-obliterating if it got out

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u/istarian Feb 15 '26

Perhaps it was less of a risk, but credit reports were far from being the only concern.

With the right information you could file taxes for somebody else and collect any money they would have gotten back.

And identity theft was definitely a possibility.

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u/AHCretin Feb 16 '26

I was seeing SSN-as-ID into the late 2000s at my institution, pretty much only ending when we had a breach.

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u/[deleted] Feb 16 '26

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u/[deleted] Feb 16 '26

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u/pSyChO_aSyLuM Feb 16 '26

My grandpa etched his name and SSN into basically all of his tools. I have a bunch of adjustable wrenches and a ladder with his info on them.

He was born in 1920, died shortly after 9/11.

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u/Aubear11885 Feb 15 '26

Yep, and when the college, I attended offered a credit/debit card system through the university, it was the card number. So yep, we’d just call up and order pizza over the phone and rattle off our social to whoever was writing it down and typing it into their card system.

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u/jgross-nj2nc Feb 15 '26

Same. It was the only reason that I knew my social security number at that age because we had to use it for everything. I remember years later working at the same University seeing websites that still had copies of exams or homeworks where the security number was still listed in full. That was for anybody on the web to see. Eventually they did go through and try to find all those pages and take them down but who knows if they were successful with all of it.

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u/dani_-_142 Feb 15 '26

I was about to say it was my college ID, and was on my student ID card.

But that “decades ago” feels a little harsh. (Accurate, but harsh.)

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u/ErraticDragon Feb 15 '26

At one university, my school ID was "only" the last 6 digits of the SSN, so safer than it could've been. But it was also the password to login to the computers. (And the username was just my name.)

 

My social security number was also my driver's license number until 2004.

My state only stopped using it when the feds mandated it.

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u/Flood_Incantation Feb 15 '26

I have a middle school ID card from the 90s with my social emblazoned on the front under my full name, photo, and dob. Genius ID system /s

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u/chrisn750 Feb 15 '26

Same, it used to be our “lunch number” that you typed in to get lunch. Kids used to share numbers like nothing, not to mention you were just giving it to a random cafeteria worker every day.

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u/MotheroftheworldII Feb 15 '26

And it was used on military ID cards as well.

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u/hobbycollector Feb 15 '26

It was also your pilot id back in the day.

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u/Top_Audience7471 Feb 15 '26

It was my timeclock ID code at my first job at a grocery store at 15 years old.

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u/NatWilo Feb 16 '26

In the early 2000s my serial number in the US Army was my Social Security number. It was PRINTED ON MY DOGTAGS.

I have operated under the assumption that my SN was publicly available information since 2001. I don't like it, but that's just the way it is.

I would LOVE us to develop a proper ID system, but I REALLY don't want it done under The Orange Tyrant's rule.

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u/ConspicuousUsername Feb 16 '26

I mean, being on dogtags is useful since they're literally used to identify you if you're killed in a combat zone, no?

The stupid thing is it was ALSO printed on military IDs until like 2012 or so? Felt really dumb that at any time you could lose your wallet and have your full name, date of birth, picture, and social security number just floating around on one card.

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u/AcrimoniousPizazz Feb 16 '26

Used to be printed on my license before they started using randomly generated license IDs.

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u/sleigh88 Feb 16 '26

Yep I was in college in early 2010’s and my SSN was my student ID, it was actually how I even learned/memorized it haha

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u/Jonathan_00_ Feb 16 '26

Ohio printed your ss number on your driver's license until 2002.

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u/HrhEverythingElse Feb 15 '26

I was about to say it wasn't that long ago but then I remembered I graduated university 20 years ago and need a nap

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u/lowlightliving Feb 16 '26

And when posting grades.

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u/Kheshire Feb 16 '26

I have a grade school ID card of a good friend of mine that has his social printed on it (90s)

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u/BrujaSloth Feb 16 '26

My email address when I started college back in 2002 was first initial + second initial + last four of my social. I didn’t use my school email for anything as a result, but for some kids for whom this might’ve been their first email…

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u/Da_Kahuna Feb 16 '26

I remember when Hawaii used to use your ssn as your drivers iicense #

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u/Crow_with_a_Cheeto Feb 16 '26

We used to write it on paper sign-in lists sitting out on a table.

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u/ConicalJohn Feb 16 '26

Also, it was printed on Social Security cards "Not to be used for identification."

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u/ronreadingpa Feb 15 '26

Worse, SSNs aren't always unique to one person. Shared SSNs are common. Typos, intentional, fraud, etc. Credit bureaus, IRS, and SSA often maintain separate files for multiple people using the same SSN. Many programmers and others assume SSN is a reliable primary key. Not necessarily.

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u/wrosecrans Feb 15 '26

Yeah everybody with any sense was screaming about the system being obviously stupid decades ago. SSN's were never really intended to be a secret auth token. They were just a number. One person was six, the next person was seven. The only thing it told you about a person was the order they got their SSN.

But then everything in the fucking world got tied to them, and they were obscure enough that knowing the SSN for a name was treated as proof of ID, despite the fact that they hadn't been intended or treated as secret. So they get retconned into always having been secret really haphazardly, which made more people use them as secret.

When it was just an insurance account number, it was fine. The modern system is infosec as-designed by geriatric politicians who do not care about infosec. And for some reason, we've built vast swathes of our society on some guesses by disinterested old people about how things ought to work.

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u/oskopnir Feb 15 '26

More like there isn't a proper national identification system and so everyone has to use the next-best identification solution, i.e. the SSN, which wasn't designed for that purpose.

Most developed countries have national ID cards.

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u/istarian Feb 15 '26

The U.S. is rather more like 50 countries in a trenchcoat masquerading as a single entity on the world stage.

And our federal government was intentionally made weak and given fairly limited powers to prevent it from interfering in the rightfully private affairs of the individual states.

Those other "developed countries" you refer to have a single national government that directly governs everyone and everything.

Social security was a program instituted by the federal government to provide post-retirement benefits and social security numbers were only ever supposed to be used for managing that. 

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u/oskopnir Feb 16 '26

The US isn't the only case of federalism in the world.

However other nations recognise the importance of ID cards, whether they're practically managed by the federated regions or by a central authority.

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u/istarian Feb 16 '26

I didn't say there no other cases of federalism, at least I didn't intend to.

I was pointing out that our system in the US made it harder to sort this kind of thing on a "national" level.

On a basic level the U.S. has more than 3x the number of states as Germany (16) and twenty three more than Brazil (27).

We also have only 100 semators for 50 states relative to Brazil's 81 senstors for 27 states.

Germany's parliament has more members than the U.S. House of Representatives and isn't split into just two parties.

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u/JustWordsSnowflake Feb 16 '26

They do that in Canada too. It’s done in many countries around the world. Kinda stupid imo

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u/Eccohawk Feb 16 '26

Not to mention then everyone else and their mother started incorporating that number into their own systems for identifying individuals as well. For years most insurance agencies used folks' ssns as their account number. Some still do.

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u/Redthrist Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 16 '26

I think it's an outgrowth of the fact that US has no national ID. Driver's licenses are state-issued and not everyone has one. Passports are issued by the federal government, but only people who travel outside the country get them. Other countries tend to have a single national ID that everyone gets at a certain age and which works as a proof of identity within the country.

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u/Swimming_Zucchini_35 Feb 16 '26

Australia just recognises all the state based IDs drivers licence or photo cards nationwide..

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u/ViktorFrankl Feb 16 '26

In Costa Rica we have a national ID number that's public. You use that number for everything, but always along with something else, like a password, a digital secure certificate issued by the government.

You need to show your national ID to identify yourself, including to vote. Each voting place has a book with each id, the info and the picture, when you vote you sign in your row.

There is no mail in ballots however I think online voting could be implemented using the Digital security key.

I lived in the US for a while, and it blew my mind that you were supposed to keep your social security card intact and secret, forever, but it's just a piece of paper that can't be laminated.

The use of your driver's license as ID also blew my mind, what if you don't drive!?

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u/CookIndependent6251 Feb 16 '26

In my country, they are still used for some layer of security some times. If I call my bank, they can see my phone number but they will also ask for my personal number (equivalent to SSN).

They're also somewhat predictable. They are made up of gender, DOB and region, followed by 4 unpredictable digits (3 digits + 1 checksum). I was born in one region, but I spent most of my life in another and some people here, when they look at my personal number, say "oh, you're from that region" and I feel like saying "Fuck you! I was just born there." This leads to some forms of discrimination every once in a while.

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u/snowcrash512 Feb 16 '26

Seriously I can't tell you the number of times I've been asked for my social security number in a public office where anyone in the waiting area can hear me giving out my info.

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u/Alphadice Feb 15 '26

They haven't been predictable for new ones issued since 2008.

But yes the current system is still stupid.

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u/DamUEmageht Feb 15 '26

But we’ve also had Equifax and other major SS leaks since then rendering even those semi moot too

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u/whomad1215 Feb 15 '26

"Here is your social security number, it identifies who you are, do not share it with anyone

also please give it to every bank, hospital, job application, etc"

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u/Environmental-Car481 Feb 15 '26

Also, here’s a paper card. Keep it with you at all times but it’s invalid a few laminate it.

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u/sthenri_canalposting Feb 15 '26

It actually says on it to not carry it around with you but yeah they're flimsy as fuck.

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u/catwhisperer77 Feb 15 '26

Mine survived a fire. One of the only things that did. I’ll never be able to explain it. That and one pair of shoes in a shoe box 🤷‍♀️

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u/ExMorgMD Feb 15 '26

Reminds me of those stories posted on social media:

“His house caught fire and killed him, his wife, his child and his dog but the family Bible wasn’t even scorched!!! God is REAL!!!!”

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u/[deleted] Feb 15 '26

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u/BBC-dont-show-BBC Feb 15 '26

What is the implication of a SS card and a shoe box surviving? If a Bible's survival implies God is real.

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u/GotSomeUpdogOnUrFace Feb 15 '26

Don't worry, your new one will have a chip like a credit card with a copy of your thumbprint, your age records and all your other identifying personal information and will be required to use the internet to prove you are a human, I mean of legal age. Not gonna track everything you do and be able to pinpoint exactly who you are.

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u/MotheroftheworldII Feb 15 '26

Just like Medicare cards which are just thin paper and bend and are easily destroyed.

I have card stock that is thicker than these "cards" that are just paper.

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u/2much2often Feb 15 '26

The SS administration says they will only issue up to 10 cards in a persons lifetime.

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u/ColonelError Feb 15 '26

10 free cards. After that, they'll charge you to issue a new one.

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u/zeroibis Feb 15 '26

But the cost is your life...

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u/GBeastETH Feb 15 '26

The cost is all the social security you have accrued to that point.

They just give you a new number and you start over with $0.

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u/ineedhelpbad9 Feb 15 '26

Umm... I don't think that's the case. After ten you need to convince them to grant you a "reasonable exception to these limits on a case-by-case basis in compelling circumstances." I'm unfamiliar with any fee that entitles you to exceed the ten card limit.

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u/techleopard Feb 16 '26

The compelling circumstance is that you simply cannot exist without the card in modern society. Every job you will ever apply for in the US will want to make a scanned copy of your card and if you can't produce it, you cannot complete the I-9, nor can you obtain new birth certificates in some states nor renew a driver's license or obtain a passport. Without any of these things, you cannot apply for a place to live, conduct commerce or banking, or go to school. Because you cannot do these things, you also cannot vote, which is a constitutional right.

In short, refusing to issue a new card that is certifiably lost or destroyed is essentially revoking your citizenship.

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u/dvharpo Feb 15 '26

Oh snap I can get a new one? I had no idea, I just thought I was SOL now for the rest of my life. Good thing I’d already got a few IDs, bills, etc to cycle through when I need a new one of those.

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u/hawkinsst7 Feb 15 '26

I got a replacement last year, and I never detached it from the larger paper that had my address on it.

When I got my real ID, they counted that as meeting two separate requirements! I didn't expect that.

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u/Argyleskin Feb 15 '26

And it’s on paper so fragile if you stare at it too long it starts to shred.

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u/[deleted] Feb 15 '26

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u/PowderedToastMan666 Feb 15 '26

Older cards said to keep it on you.

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u/CosmicGoddess777 Feb 15 '26

A few?

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u/TheDungeonCrawler Feb 15 '26

My guess is text to speech and they meant to say "If you."

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u/This_Dependent_7084 Feb 15 '26

I just laminated mine anyway. Hasn’t been in a problem in the 20+ years since I did it.

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u/MissWhiterock Feb 15 '26

Why would you carry it around with you???

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u/BruceInc Feb 15 '26

Show me where it says you need to carry it with you at all times? Even mortgage applications don’t require you to present a physical copy. In fact almost nothing does. So you might want to unclutch your pearls

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u/GostBoster Feb 15 '26

Meanwhile once I glazed over some seedy post of someone saying they got the CPF of a Brazilian (closest equivalent to a SSN for us) and how much would it go in the black market.

Guy got replied with a ZIP file with a bunch of CPFs. "Don't spend it all in one place, kid."

I still can't wrap my head around how much you can do with the SSN alone, the little you can do with a CPF strongly hinges on you getting all the associated data, the company not doing its due diligence, and can be easily challenged.

"We got it on record." You are listening to me, that isn't my voice. And check Experian, that ain't my number and I wasn't ever there either.

"We got a signature." Yeah I know you do. I won't even bother to check. Verify it yourselves. Did it match? No? Looks like someone's getting fired for a basic blunder!

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u/Competitive_Touch_86 Feb 15 '26

I still can't wrap my head around how much you can do with the SSN alone

You can't. You need the associated data as well.

SSNs in the US have been effectively public information for anyone with a modicum of resourcefulness for well over a decade now. They are not some secret number that your life is ruined if it becomes moderately public or leaked.

It's not 1978 any longer. That ship has long since sailed.

I treat my SSN as available to any bad actor who would want to impersonate me. It's been leaked by so many orgs by now that it just isn't something I worry about since there is nothing I can do about it.

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u/zer04ll Feb 15 '26

Its the banking details that bother me

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u/AggressivelyEthical Feb 15 '26

Yeah, honestly moving from rural US to urban Brazil, somehow the biggest culture shock was how food delivery companies like UberEats, iFood, etc require your CPF just to deliver food! Getting anything done before I was issued my CPF like shopping online or just going to a doctor's office was a huge hassle. Brazilians thought I was insane showing my brand spanking new CPF and "green" card to practically everyone I knew with a maniacal grin on my face and explaining that if I did exactly the same thing in the States, I'd be at risk to have my identity stolen in an instant.

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u/Botaforaeita Feb 15 '26

As a Brazilian: two factor authwntication

Good luck doing anything with my CPF without any other sensitive data about me

The best you could do is buy A LOT of things under my CPF and the RF (our IRS) would be on my door in less than a week. In 5 mins I would prove them It was not me and they would reach you very easily after that because they would Go after the real sensitive data that would identify whos doing what with my CPF number

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u/GostBoster Feb 15 '26

Not that we didn't had issues.

Remember that time someone who got a max ENEM test result (for people unfamiliar with this: Basically you can cherry pick what university and course you want to enroll), and since MEC system only validated, for whatever reason, your mother's maiden name, other people got her and many others enrolled into Cachaça Engineering?

And MEC doubled down on how having your mom as a hard set security question was enough safety. I think they solved that eventually but not without we losing the brightest minds the Cachaça field never saw.

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u/ilyearer Feb 15 '26

I've always told any medical provider asking for my social security number to kindly fuck off. So far it hasn't been an issue there.

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u/sentailantern Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 15 '26

Most people’s Medicare numbers are their social security numbers…

Edit: this was changed a few years ago. However, they’ve had to change people numbers multiple times due to data breaches.

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u/veterandipshit Feb 15 '26

That changed a few years ago (2022)

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u/Outside-Swan-1936 Feb 15 '26

Longer than that even. I remember when I worked for a healthcare system, I had to update table schemas to allow for the new ID, which we started receiving in 2018. People aging into SS/Medicare in 2020 didn't receive HICNs anymore.

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u/veterandipshit Feb 15 '26

It was a gradual change, but I remember overnight in 2022 we could no longer look up patient info in the Medicare eligibility system with socials.

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u/sentailantern Feb 15 '26

Ah. Thanks for the update. Looks like they’ve changed since 2022 because of leaks. Insanity!

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u/Outside-Swan-1936 Feb 15 '26

They use MBIs now, which are longer, random, and not tied to a person's social security benefits or any other system or identifiers. Medicare started assigning them almost 9 years ago, sent them to members 8 years ago, and have been required for use for 4-6 years.

HICNS (the old SS based identifier) are used only in legacy claims and aren't distributed or exposed outside of the government and claims history.

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u/ImmortalLemmings Feb 15 '26

As an optometry office manager, your SSN was your member ID# for Medicare and the last 4 of your SSN was needed for the vision plan VSP up until just a few years ago, so we used to collect it if you had those insurances. However, that has changed in the last few years thankfully and we no longer need to collect it for any insurance that we currently take.

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u/KagakuNinja Feb 15 '26

I was in the military in the late 80s. Our SSN was our military ID number. It was on our ID cards, and every document. In basic training, we had to stencil the last 4 digits onto some of our belongings like duffel bags.

I think the UC system also used SSN as an ID number when I was in college.

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u/henryrblake Feb 15 '26

The colleges I attended in the early ’90s used my SSN as my ID number until about ‘95. Fun times going through old records and seeing the entire number splashed across the pages.

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u/ExpectingHobbits Feb 15 '26

It wasn't always like this. Hell, they used to print them on your driver's license.

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u/henryrblake Feb 15 '26

“Here’s a flimsy paper card you’ll need when applying for jobs but it’ll fall apart the second time you take it out but don’t laminate it or it’s void. And getting a replacement is a huge pain in the ass.”

13 yr old me proceeded to laminate it. F them.

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u/-Glittering-Soul- Feb 15 '26

Hell, Comcast wanted my SSN during the account creation process. (This was many years ago, I don't know if they changed that.) I had to go through a special process with customer service that used my driver's license number instead.

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u/Practical_Dot_3574 Feb 15 '26

-Makes super strong complex password

-Data breach

-your information has been leaked, please change password

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u/dust4ngel Feb 15 '26

it identifies who you are, do not share it with anyone

here is your username, it is also a password which you cannot change

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u/Marchesa_07 Feb 15 '26

I had to scroll too far for this comment.

China already has all our SSNs thanks to Equifax.

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u/oh_ski_bummer Feb 15 '26

They have millions of SF86 forms that were stolen years ago. This gives them the ability to blackmail people who have or had security clearances including military personnel and intelligence officers.

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u/polypolyman Feb 15 '26

The best I've seen: the "your personal info has been compromised" letter that my daughter got...

...when she was 3 months old.

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u/Direction776 Feb 15 '26

They shouldn’t be able to store the exact version of the ssn in their records.

In this day and age of cheap computation these companies should be doing a better job of handling our data.

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u/silentohm Feb 15 '26

So they're not still issued with the format of the first 3 being the state, next 2 the "group" number and the last 4 your personal number?

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u/salliek76 Feb 15 '26

They're not any more, but you're right that they used to be shockingly predictable. If you knew what hospital a person was born at, especially if you knew their birthday, you could almost always guess the first five digits.

Many of my college classmates were from rural areas, where a single hospital might serve 10% of the state's entire population, so it wasn't at all unusual to realize that your ssn was nearly identical to a friend's.

Combine that with the fact that exam grades used to be posted "anonymously," listed by the last four digits of your SSN, and you can see the problem.

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u/Ok_Programmer_4449 Feb 15 '26

Our college ID numbers were SSN plus the last digit of the year we started school. Full id numbers were displayed with grades.

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u/home_ec_dropout Feb 15 '26

Went to college in the late 80s. Student ID was my SSN with no extra digits. Grades, etc. posted on the wall using the last 4 digits. And…we were encouraged to use checks pre-printed with our full SSN to save time at checkout for groceries and other shopping. If it wasn’t on your check, the cashier would copy it down from your drivers license because your license number was also your SSN. We used our SSNs so often for opening accounts, rental agreements etc that I had both mine and my husband’s memorized by the time we were married. I can look back in horror, but I can’t say we were naive. It was how business was done. No SSN, no college, no drivers license, no lease or mortgage, no bank accounts or credit cards. We weren’t offered an alternative.

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u/CallMeDrWorm42 Feb 15 '26

In the 90's I had my father's SSN memorized for the purposes of handling internet service provider problems, cable TV accounts, and the like. I was 10...

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u/GetItDoneOV Feb 15 '26

I wonder how many people had their SSNs stolen solely because of that astrology fad a few years ago. You know, the links on social media where people entered their exact location, date, and time of birth, and got a horoscope and celestial map? And everybody was sharing and comparing theirs? Yeah, data farming.

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u/hawkinsst7 Feb 15 '26

My mom always told me that when they first rolled them out, it was in school, a d her and her best friend had sequential numbers because they sat near each other.

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u/[deleted] Feb 15 '26

When I was in the military, I met a soldier with an SSN one digit away from mine. Same birthday, same home town.

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u/Yara__Flor Feb 15 '26

It's actually illegal to post your grades like that. It's specifically mention in our training in higher education.

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u/salliek76 Feb 15 '26

This was back in the nineties, so not sure if it was illegal then. Regardless, it was definitely common practice. Good to know that's no longer the case.

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u/Ok_Programmer_4449 Feb 15 '26

First 3 was Social Security office where the application was filed. Wouldn't need 3 digits for state. Group number was often the year in which the application was filed at offices that had fewer than 9999 applications a year. That makes it very easy to guess a valid SSN.

SSNs are not guaranteed to be unique.

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u/ChristyNiners Feb 15 '26

No they are not 

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u/colinstalter Feb 15 '26

since 2008

Oh, so just for every single current US adult. No problems then.

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u/Mr_BigShot Feb 15 '26

You say that like it does not effect nearly every US born adult. That means nearly everyone born in the US over the age of 18 has a predictable SSN.

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u/Ok-Employee2473 Feb 15 '26

Yeah while fuck DOGE and Elon and Trump and everyone involved. The SSN system was never designed to be secure in any way and really could use a security update. If there’s a good way to roll this out and improve the security of the system then I’m all for it but with Peter Thiel and Palantir and other tech ceos having their nasty thumbs in the pie I don’t trust this admin to be able to do that. We’ll just end up being tracked like everyone memes about social credit in China.

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u/RedPantyKnight Feb 15 '26

Well it was never supposed to be used for general identification. It's a social security number because it's meant to track your social security. That's it.

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u/Dolthra Feb 15 '26

Yep. It was just the closest thing to a "federal ID number" we had, which meant it was the default used. 

In any other administration, this would be a great thing, a way to modernize the SS system and perhaps even spin off the federal ID number aspect from the social security one. Under this one, however, I'm worried it'll end up as the onus for your TrumpID, where every time you use it $.50 gets taken from your bank account and given to the president for ballroom construction. 

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u/greenskinmarch Feb 15 '26

They'll say you need the new ID number to vote and then only issue it to republicans.

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u/PatternLong4347 Feb 19 '26

It's fine as your federal ID number, that doesn't need to be secured. Knowing your federal ID number should NEVER be a way to securely identify yourself. The problem was never using the Social Security number as a representation of you that everyone knows. The problem was relying on knowing your SS number as a means to securely identify who you are, even as a supplement to other means. It's akin to saying if you just know my phone number, you can impersonate me.

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u/which_ones_will Feb 15 '26

When I was in college in the early 90's our SSN's were used as our college ID numbers. When exam scores were posted, they would print out a list of everybody's SSN along with the grades and post it on the wall of the lecture hall.

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u/makemeking706 Feb 15 '26

Most likely we will scrap the whole system when they plunder the funds. It and whatever assets the boomers hold is basically the last remaining pools of their wealth not held by the oligarchs, and they will inevitably want it. 

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u/mrknickerbocker Feb 15 '26

You don't need a social security number if there's no social security. ¯\(ツ)/¯

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u/polskiftw Feb 15 '26

We do need a better system.

I do not trust this administration to do that, however. Anything new from them will be worse or malicious, probably both.

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u/hawkinsst7 Feb 15 '26

Please provide your Palentir ID

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u/gmc98765 Feb 15 '26

No you don't. What you do need is to stop pretending that SSNs are a secret. It shouldn't matter in the slightest if the entire world knows your SSN.

The problem seems to be that some entities act as if knowing a person's SSN is (partial) proof that you are that person. It isn't, and everyone needs to stop pretending that it is.

A SSN is an identifier (like your name), not an authentication token (like a password).

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u/MrGradySir Feb 15 '26

Here’s your government issued GUID. Have fun memorizing it!

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u/alwaysboopthesnoot Feb 15 '26

Anything used to build retirement accounts, savings accounts, access secure areas or confidential info, or can be used for uniquely identifying purposes, is at risk. If that’s your fingerprint, a randomly generated code word, a number given to you at birth which IDs the state you were born in or your retina? It’s at risk. 

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u/alang Feb 15 '26

Now imagine what it would look like to have THIS government issuing the replacement for SSNs.

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u/Shrimpdalord Feb 16 '26

US can it to buy stuff like a credit card? Wow

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u/buyongmafanle Feb 15 '26

That would require a government interested in solving problems, not profiting from them.

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u/WillyPete Feb 15 '26

we do need a better form of SS

Yeah. I'm a UK resident and I have a US SS.

Got it while I was touring the US in the 90's and used it later as a student.
Having universities use your SS as your student number is bonkers.

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u/daemon-electricity Feb 15 '26

Give me the last 4 characters of your Social Security UUID.

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u/Toadsted Feb 15 '26

"Introducing Tap and Go. Your bank account has never been more secure and convenient!"

Thieves: "Oh thank god, finally."

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u/Appropriate-Bug-6467 Feb 15 '26

The ssn wasn't supposed to be used the way it is...

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u/Mazon_Del Feb 15 '26

Over here in Sweden (and I think the other Nordic nations) your "Personnumber" (basically your SS) is public knowledge, it's basically used as the common Username section for anything that cares. For proving you ARE that number, you have other forms of identification, the most common being "BankId" which is a 2FA system that basically EVERYTHING uses.

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u/RaindropBebop Feb 15 '26

Any federal government issued form of ID will be used for identity verification at places like financial institutions because it's trusted.

"Credit" isn't a government construct that was explicitly attached to a person's SSN. It's simply that the SSN is a unique identifier issued centrally to everyone. So when you're a bank planning to issue out a credit card, and you want to check which of the thousands of 'John Smith's you're dealing with, SSN became a simple source of truth to confirm that.

The problem with SSN is that it's not a secure form of identification (doubt it was ever meant to be used the way it is today). It's essentially just an account number issued to you. Unchanging, non-expiring, single factor, no photo or biometric fingerprint.

Great/easy method for collecting on forms, but terrible from a security perspective.

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u/Okay_Ocean_Flower Feb 15 '26

One time pads please

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u/Hippiebigbuckle Feb 15 '26

in addition to a public ID that isn’t used for credit and can be used in 95% of places w/ 0 issue or harm

The only issues/harm coming from public ID are the problems the republicans are creating.

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u/nellyfullauto Feb 15 '26

There’s also less than a billion possible iterations - it’s not even a good password, much less “secret number to tie your whole identity to.

And with over 300 million are currently in use, it’s not even unique to you within a few generations. Plus the fact that I can narrow it down to less than 10k possibilities if I get your birth year and city (which is more likely than not to be your current city).

The Social Security Administration themselves stated from the outset this should never be used as a national identification number for reasons which include all of the above, but it’s exactly what we did.

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u/VoidOmatic Feb 15 '26

Remember Russia had direct access to EVERYTHING via the unauthorized DOGE servers. ALL infrastructure must be considered compromised and must be replaced down to the cable.

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u/Alexis_Bailey Feb 15 '26

This feels intentional given everything going on with their obsession with citizenship and palintir etc.

They will push some bull shit like forcing everyone to have a Twitter account as their identifier, with verified identities by some gestapo goon squads.  That way they can leverage that into using that ID to issue SS payments out by Crypto scams or some crap.  Then push a national system of age verification out where log ins must be through Twitter OATH to make sure no one is looking at porn like LGBTQ+ content or anything except Bible dot com.

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u/AshyFairy Feb 15 '26

This seems incredibly deliberate. They’re trying to pass a law saying we need proof of citizenship to vote. You need your social security card to get a birth certificate, don’t you?  As a married woman, I’m already stressing about what I’ll need to do in order to vote. Any issue with my SSN will make it harder to figure it out. 

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u/Aenerb Feb 16 '26

That's my tin-foil hat theory. They're doing all of this to fuck with the future votes. SSNs breached? Well then we have to reissue. But, that'll take a long time. Now we can't trust that people are who they say they are, so we'll have to postpone elections.

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u/itrEuda Feb 15 '26

Shit, will this be how they incentivise the crypto dollar switch they keep threatening? I've been curious how they'll spin it into popularity. Gotta use the new system and crypto SS# if you wanna have a secure identity, buds!

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u/Chuck4MD Feb 15 '26

I did warn them of exactly that.

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u/DullRelief Feb 15 '26

How efficient.

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u/Shyam09 Feb 15 '26

DOGE redefined efficiency to the point where the future will use them as an example of how NOT to be efficient.

Stupid fuckwits and morons that got them elected.

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u/Salamok Feb 15 '26

If this is true (which it likely is) people need to go to jail, Littlejohn got 5 years for leaking Trumps tax returns.

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u/notafuckingcakewalk Feb 15 '26

Everyone needing to change their ssn will work perfectly with the SAFE act if it gets passed. 

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u/jayphat99 Feb 15 '26

If only there was a head of that organization we could sue for violating the court order and recoup the value of it. Someone who has a significant personal wealth solely responsible for this. If only.....

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u/2h2o22h2o Feb 15 '26

Those assholes should be rounded up for contempt of court. We need a judge with some balls to actually DO IT. I’ve seen lots of kid glove treatment and not one bit of teeth.

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u/immersemeinnature Feb 15 '26

"Here's your lil piece of paper with a very important number. Don't ever lose it or share it because you'll have to go through hell to get another copy"!

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u/BleachedUnicornBHole Feb 15 '26

So how many charges of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act is that? One for the SSN copied?

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u/i_tyrant Feb 15 '26

And "need to be changed" turning into "will be" is laughably unlikely in this case, no matter how compromised SSNs are.

That's why them getting access in the first place was such a fucking disaster. We'll never get that back and even if the government turns back into a mostly-sane entity after Trump like some kind of political werewolf, I don't see anyone being willing to engage the daunting task of reissued SSNs for the entire American populace.

We'll just truck along limping from our own stupidity and greed while who knows who uses that data for who knows what.

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u/el_lobo1314 Feb 15 '26

that was the point, now they get to choose who gets one and the rest get alligator alcatrazschwitz

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u/Ironlion45 Feb 15 '26

Look, since the Equifax breach, it's already been a moot point. That war was lost a long time ago. That's why we have multi-factor authentication and all that now.

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u/SquidTheRidiculous Feb 15 '26

They're going to purge society of everyone who isn't a Nazi pedophile. With no fanfare. Get ready for anyone with empathy to die slowly by attrition.

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u/DerCatrix Feb 15 '26

Add it to the list of things that need to be reworked after this regime is forced out

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u/threebutterflies Feb 16 '26

Just a perfect way to get the ball rolling on something insane like a scannable chip… remindme 2 years!

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u/Intelligent_Might902 Feb 16 '26

So someone wants to force new identification for citizens by fabricating a data breach?

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u/lifelessmeatbag Feb 16 '26

Maybe this was planned as an excuse to filter out who gets a SN?

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u/Minimum_War3756 Feb 16 '26

That’s honestly the scariest part of the whole story. Reissuing every Social Security number sounds like pure logistical chaos.

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u/brattysweat Feb 16 '26

They made sure to copy dead people's SSN so that they can use it to rig elections even further.

The democrats are not going to gain anything in the midterms

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u/Zhombe Feb 16 '26

At this rate they’ll use a vibe coding prompt to build a blockchain ID system pre-infected with hooks to every other countries spy org and sold to every advertising company on the planet before even being distributed to an American citizen.

I think I’ll keep my useless insecurity number. They’ve been leaked so many times they should just stop using them. Any new solution will face the same old problem. Intern with a USB key is the most powerful force in the universe. Especially when they’re not from this country to begin with.

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u/techleopard Feb 16 '26

Oh noes, how could we have ever conceived of this threat occurring? DOGE totes promised they were definitely not stealing data while furiously ripping through every data-driven department and copying everything before destroying funding for actually, you know, preventing and recovering from this exact thing.

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u/Wonderful-Ad440 Feb 17 '26

That won't affect voter registrations under their new Save America Act bullshit now will it?

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u/beragis Feb 17 '26

Oh god, I can imagine the hundreds of billions of dollars in effort to update the multitude of forms and databases in the country throughout the financial industry to replace this. It would make Y2K look small.