United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2004-06-15 monographic deposited born digital 26 p. GA 1.13:GAO-04-768T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-04-768T P0b002ee18038f777 f:d04768t DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-23 GAOREPORTS-GAO-04-768T machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-04-768T GAO-04-768T Computer crimes Crime prevention Crimes or offenses Data bases Data collection Financial analysis Financial management Financial records Health care programs Health maintenance organizations Social security number Testimony A10500

In 1936, the Social Security Administration (SSA) established the Social Security number (SSN) to track workers' earnings for social security benefit purposes. Today, private and public sector entities frequently ask individuals for SSNs in order to conduct their businesses and sometimes to comply with federal laws. Although uses of SSNs can be beneficial to the public, SSNs are also a key piece of information in creating false identities either for financial misuse or for assuming an individual's identity. The retention of SSNs in the public and private sectors can create opportunities for identity theft. In addition, the aggregation of personal information, such as SSNs, in large corporate databases, as well as the public display of SSNs in various records accessed by the public, may provide criminals the opportunity to easily obtain this personal information. Given the heightened awareness of identity crimes, this testimony focuses on describing (1) how private sector entities obtain, use, and protect SSNs, and (2) public sector uses and protections of SSNs https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-04-768T/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-04-768T.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-04-768T/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-04-768T.pdf GAO-04-768T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-04-768T Testimony GAO-04-768T; Social Security Numbers: Use Is Widespread and Protections Vary; Computer crimes Crime prevention Crimes or offenses Data bases Data collection Financial analysis Financial management Financial records Health care programs Health maintenance organizations Social security number Title 15 Section 1681b 15 U.S.C. 1681b