In this modern world, we find that again and again, there are data breaches that expose our Social Security numbers, which essentially represent our own personal identification number to those who thereby use it for their own nefarious purposes. The first thing to recognize is that our Social Security number was issued to us, not for identification purposes, but rather as our unique number specifically earmarked for the Social Security administration so that we could appropriately receive our Social Security benefits, but has regrettably devolved into becoming essentially our identification number, unique to our person, and therefore quite valuable, for it is this number that we provide for employment purposes, for credit cards, and for assorted other things, merited or not.
So then, there really ought to be some serious thought by the governance of this nation as to what to do about the data breaches regarding our Social Security number and the sure recognition that the more places in which our Social Security number is provided and thereby stored, the more pathways that those who desire that number have to obtain that very thing, which obviously is the seminal problem with the way things are conducted presently.
One would think that because data breaches are so damaging not just to the individual but also to the government and businesses in the sense of all the fraud so accomplished through this breach, which probably amounts to billions upon billions of dollars, that therefore our government would make it a very high priority to protect those numbers and to come up with a robust program to accomplish that very thing, because it certainly seems that these breaches are a rather common occurrence and will continue to be a common occurrence mainly because too many places, pretty much demand our Social Security number, or at a minimum, the last four numbers of our Social Security number, as if providing just the last four numbers, somehow still provides us with enough protection of our identity, when it definitely does not.
The thing about criminals or those who are up to no good is that when they know that the avenue to make some “easy money” is access to another person’s Social Security number and of which there are a multitude of ways to get that Social Security number, mainly because the security to protect such, is functionally weak, they are going to do exactly that, because America is the richest nation in the world, which means that there is plenty of money to go after, and further to the point, since this nation isn’t doing a damn meaningful thing about changing how we are identified through a rethink of our Social Security numbers, these thieves are hellbent to keep on doing what they are doing. After all, it is lucrative to do so, as there are plenty of dark web buyers willing to buy this information, because of its high value, which seemingly isn’t something that this governance desires to see stop, because it doesn’t do what it needs to do to stop it.