Researchers: Social Security numbering system is crackable

Researchers at Carnegie-Mellon University have warned that there is a "surprisingly easy" method of computing the nine digits of Americans' Social Security numbers. Of course, the popularity of social networking sites where users freely divulge information such as birthdays and hometowns does not help either--as with instant credit approval websites which can test for valid numbers.

The method devised by the team successfully obtained all nine digits for 8.5 percent of those born after 1988 in fewer than 1,000 attempts. Interestingly, the accuracy in smaller states was considerably higher than in larger ones.

Highlighting the security risks, Alessandro Acquisti of Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh noted that the predictability of the numbers increases the risk of identity theft, a crime which cost Americans almost $50 billion just in 2007 alone.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at TechNewsWorld

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