Oh it’s much worse than just the SSNs. Thankfully you can’t do much with SSNs alone, though you totally can with some social engineering, or offical looking documents. There are people that have legally died because death certificates have been filed on them, from non-existing doctors. Legally died as in the person is very much still alive. That kind of thing is a fucking mess to fix.
The thing is, if you knew my name, or my address and age, you’d be able to find out crazy details about me.
My birth date
My full name
My social security number
Which apartment I live in
Directions my apartment from the building entrance
How large my apartment is
How many rooms it has
When I moved in
My criminal record
Which schools I’ve attended
Where I’ve worked
What I’ve studied
Who my current employer is
If I have a spouse, if so who they are and all of this info about them
My yearly income
The average income of the people in my area
All of this information about everyone in my building
If I own any vehicles
If so what model, make, and lit. everything about it (purchase date, approx value, when it was last serviced, odometer settings)
Which animals I have registered on my name
Their name, sex, breed, and age
Like it’s extensive and there are websites that are built to collate all this information under one roof, then have people pay to access parts of it. You can access this info through official means for free but it won’t be neatly presented in a singular packet. I’ve also left out a lot of stuff, like my company ownership/board member status, if I’ve been politically engaged, etc. The list was getting too long.
SSNa were supposed to not be sensitive info in the US as well, but in practice they were used as such.
Oh it’s much worse than just the SSNs. Thankfully you can’t do much with SSNs alone, though you totally can with some social engineering, or offical looking documents. There are people that have legally died because death certificates have been filed on them, from non-existing doctors. Legally died as in the person is very much still alive. That kind of thing is a fucking mess to fix.
The thing is, if you knew my name, or my address and age, you’d be able to find out crazy details about me.
Like it’s extensive and there are websites that are built to collate all this information under one roof, then have people pay to access parts of it. You can access this info through official means for free but it won’t be neatly presented in a singular packet. I’ve also left out a lot of stuff, like my company ownership/board member status, if I’ve been politically engaged, etc. The list was getting too long.