Since yesterday, when Alessandro Acquisti and Ralph Gross of Carnegie Mellon University released a study demonstrating that it is relatively easy to predict an individual’s Social Security Number (SSN) using data from readily available public records, the security world has been buzzing. As someone who was given a draft copy of the paper to read…
Category: Govt
Does the PASS ID Act Protect Privacy?
Jim Harper of the Cato Institute takes aim at PASS ID and CDT’s praise for it. Here are a few snippets: One of the more interesting privacy “protections” in the PASS ID Act is a requirement that individuals may access, amend, and correct their own personally identifiable information. This is a new and different security/identity…
Dutch parliament rejects data storage law
TelecomPaper is reporting that the Dutch upper house of parliament rejected a government proposal to require telecom operators to store communications data for 12 months. A majority reportedly voted against the proposal “and called for the government instead to stick to the minimum period of six months indicated in the EU legislation.” Update of 7-08: …
Bombshell study: SSN relatively easy to predict
In a study that challenges current initiatives to reduce identity theft, researchers Alessandro Acquisti and Ralph Gross of Carnegie Mellon University have released the results of a study showing how easily all nine digits of an individual’s Social Security Numbers can be accurately predicted from information that is readily available in numerous public databases. Based…