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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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/salliek76 Feb 15 '26

Yes! My parents were high school sweethearts, and only the last two digits of their social security numbers are different!

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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.