The Identification Process Moving Forward

Since the dust has settled on the massive Equifax data breach, it has many government officials, politicians, writers, and citizens in general questioning whether or not it’s simply time for a new citizen identification process. The debate on whether or not social security numbers should be used as the sole identification tool for citizens has become a rather hot topic since Equifax’s enormous blunder, so we figured that its time for the people to voice their opinions on the matter.

We invite each person to vote (you can find the poll located at the bottom of the page) on whether or not you feel that SSNs are a sufficient identifier for each citizen, or what kinds of solutions the government needs to come up with a solution that better suits American citizens’ privacy and security.

But before voting, we thought it’d be best for you to understand a three of the options that are being tossed around. Feel free to vote, comment, and share the poll with your peers to see what other people think.

1 – Stick with Social Security numbers for the long-haul…

We start with the plain and simple face that some people just don’t like changing how the way things currently work. This is understandable, as change is more often than not a scary thing for people, but if we keep on the same path with SSNs, we know there will further consequences.

With almost every data breach and hack that makes headlines these days, it seems that another thousand or more Social Security numbers have been compromised… eventually this number is going to catch up to you, me, and just about everyone in this country.

Now, there’s nothing that says placing “credit freezes”, alerts, and holds on your various accounts won’t prevent future identity theft, but we already know that if these numbers can be hacked and stolen so easily, eventually there will be a workaround thieves formulate to bypass “credit freezes” and locks.

2 – Social Security numbers + subset authentication factors…

A proposal to fortify how Social Security numbers can be used is the first option that officials are debating, and whether or not it is feasible to accomplish. Specifically, adding multiple layers of security on top of each citizen’s unique SSN, such as biometric scans, unique text & email message codes, and some sort of user-created identifier to help layer defenses.

These multi-factor authentication steps would help prevent cyber criminals from being able to use SSNs on their own when applying for loans, credit cards, and bank accounts. Although huge efforts would need to be taken for the government to accomplish such a feat for every citizen in the United States, it would greatly increase security and reduce the liability the companies have when requesting such information from individuals.

3 – It’s time to find a new identification number…

Social Security numbers were originally issued in 1936 to help the government track a citizen’s total earnings, therefore, helping determine the Social Security benefits that that citizen should later receive. With the burgeoning presence of the internet and digital technology as a whole, the Social Security number that each citizen was assigned quickly became the easiest, most simple citizen identification process for the government & businesses alike to use. But this identification process quickly became a deep-seated, systemic flaw as hackers and cyber criminals expanded their reach across even the most secure sites on the internet.

So, the second most popular proposed solution is that the government needs to come up with an identification number for each individual — a number which is created BY the individual, making it extremely unique to that person. In addition to this unique user-created number, a set of multi-factor authentication standards need to be in place, such as phone verification / specific Q&As / and biometrics (fingerprint or retinal scans).

With a more stringent set of regulations on what identifies a person, as well as a more Byzantine method to the madness that is multi-factor authentication, a person could safely limit who is able to access their accounts, apply for credit reports, and any other application that requires verifiable identification. 

Written by Peter J. Schaub
President & CEO, NeoCertified