I just got some articles from the news, I think it maybe a great step for technology. What do you guys think?
After the massive data breach at Equifax, it would be fair to ask what your Social Security number is even good for anymore.
After the Equifax EFX, +1.26% breach exposed the data of potentially 146 million people, the Trump Administration is exploring replacements for Social Security numbers as a means of identification. Rob Joyce, special assistant to the president and White House cybersecurity coordinator said at a conference Tuesday that the Social Security number “has outlived its usefulness.”
“It’s a flawed system that we can’t roll back that risk after we know we’ve had a compromise,” he said. “I personally know my Social Security number has been compromised at least four times in my lifetime. That’s just untenable.”
Special assistant to the president and White House cybersecurity coordinator Rob Joyce spoke Tuesday at a Washington cyber conference on what he described as an outdated identity system. "I feel very strongly that the Social Security number has outlived its usefulness. Every time we use the Social Security number, you put it at risk."
In light of the fact that 143 million US customers’ private information was accessed by hackers, the 45th presidential administration is leaning on other federal departments to help find an adequate replacement for the existing system, while exposing its weaknesses.
concept of a Social Security number in this environment being private and secure – I think it’s time as a country to think beyond that. What is a better way to identify consumers in our country in a very secure way? I think that way is something different than an SSN, a date of birth and a name.”
Joyce indicated that a better system would include the implementation of a “modern cryptographic identifier," going on to say, “It’s a flawed system that we can’t roll back that risk after we know we’ve had a compromise. I personally know my Social Security number has been compromised at least four times in my lifetime. That’s just untenable.”
Examples that harken back to Estonia's digital identity program were made by Joseph Lorenzo Hall, chief technologist at the Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington, as he described a system wherein a "physical token," embedded with a private key, could be issued to individuals in conjunction with a PIN. This would allow citizens to establish that they were who they claim to be, the same way one would with a debit card.
“Your pin unlocks your ability to use that big number [or private key],” said Hall, who acknowledged that while “it’s very promising” as well as technically feasible, it is still a "pretty big endeavor," with a substantial cost for deployment to every US citizen.
Bob Stasio, fellow at the Truman National Security Project and former chief of operations at the National Security Agency’s Cyber Operations Center, pointed to blockchain technology as a means of creating numbers that are mathematically impossible to maliciously replicate. Rather than relying on a numeric system that was implemented in 1936, blockchain technology can provide "a much more efficient and mathematically sound method of transaction, identification and validation."
Please read the article to get informed. What is your opinion? is it time to replace a paper Social Security card? Is Blockchain the solution to avoid those type of hacking?
Roberta White
