NilsH
- Science
Can I Have My SSN Back?
I like to think I'm protective of my sensitive personal info. I rip bills and credit card offers into confetti before throwing them out, I never give out my Social Security number, and I can spot a phishing scheme with the best of them. But I've recently come to realize that the safeguarding of my most intimate personal details is completely out of my hands.
10.4.2008 at 04:33am - Comment by NilsHOne failure that exists is to think that any SSN produced is automatically trustworthy. It is like trusting that a person with a key has legal right to access without verifying the real identity of the person. A SSN is just a key that can help when trying to verify a persons identity. It should never be used in itself as authentication. This is where most businesses fails - thinking that a series of numbers and letter by themselves is good enough to verify a persons identity.
Download Our iPhone App
Stay up to date on the latest news of the future of science and technology from your iPhone with full articles, images and offline viewing
Follow Us On Twitter
Featuring every article from the magazine and website, plus links from around the Web. Also see our PopSci DIY feed
Become a Fan On Facebook
Share links with friends, comment on stories and more
December 2009: Best of What's New
In our December issue, Popular Science names the 100 best innovations of the year: bombproof wallpaper, self-parking cars, the fastest helicopter, and 97 more. Plus inventor profiles and videos.
Check out the best of what's new here.
Popular Science Photo Pool
Popular on Popsci
Most Viewed
- IBM's Blue Gene Supercomputer Models a Cat's Entire Brain
- Intel Wants Brain Implants in Its Customers' Heads by 2020
- Mesmerizing, Isn't It?
- Batteryless Remote Control Pulls Power from Your Button Presses
- New Reactor Uses Sunlight to Turn Water and Carbon Dioxide Into Fuel
- High-Pressure Diamond Anvil Creates a New Solid from Xenon and Hydrogen
- The Dubai Airshow As Seen From Orbit
- So Do Prosthetic Limbs Give Sprinters an Advantage Or Not?
- Robotic Surrogate Takes Your Place at Work
- Boeing's Latest Mobile Laser Weapon Tracks and Shoots Down Drone
Most Commented
- Guess This Part, Win a Tool
- This Week in the Future, November 16-20, 2009
- This Week in the Future, November 23-26, 2009: Thanksgiving Special
- Intel Wants Brain Implants in Its Customers' Heads by 2020
- IBM's Blue Gene Supercomputer Models a Cat's Entire Brain
- New Reactor Uses Sunlight to Turn Water and Carbon Dioxide Into Fuel
- CERN Successfully Brings Large Hadron Collider Back Online
- So Much For "Hopenhagen"
- NASA Robotic Rocket Plane To Survey Martian Surface
- Rat Brain Modelers Denounce IBM's Cat Brain Simulation as "Shameful and Unethical" Hoax
Most Emailed
- New Reactor Uses Sunlight to Turn Water and Carbon Dioxide Into Fuel
- World's First Osmotic Power Plant Goes Live in Norway
- High-Pressure Diamond Anvil Creates a New Solid from Xenon and Hydrogen
- President Obama Hopes to Jumpstart Science and Technology Education With New Initiative
- Mourning the Death of the Meta Media Experience
- The (Slightly) Poorer Man's Tesla: ECOS Harbinger
- Decoded Corn Genome Promises Higher Yields, Better Biofuels, New Plastics
- Everything You Need To Know About Chrome OS
- Roboticists Want to Make You an Electric Car Customized for Your Personal Commute
- "Time Traveling" Web Browser Let's You Search Like It's 1999
Today on PopSci.com
Copyright © 2009 Popular Science
A Bonnier Corporation Company. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
