Just Say No

Two weeks ago I remarked upon the reason I no longer sign up for ID-theft services:

They always involve sharing with yet another company very detailed information, such as date of birth, social security number, bank account and brokerage account numbers, where one has lived for the past forty years, whether one owns or rents, etc. To me the risk of that new company being breached by a hacker or a crooked employee is greater than the benefit of that company's protection.

In other words information can't be stolen if it wasn't out there in the first place.

(WSJ image)

One's Social Security number is among the items that should be most zealously guarded. That, along with one's date of birth, allows access to one's medical and financial records over the phone. (I speak from recent personal experience.) However, many companies who have no legal necessity. such as tax reporting, to have the social security number of customers routinely ask for them. [bold added]

In many cases, there’s a simple solution to this: Just say no. According to privacy and security experts, in many situations we shouldn’t have to turn over our number. And if we refuse to give it, organizations often will back down.

“Skip it if you’re filling out something that isn’t a legal document, related to a loan or opening a financial account,” says Rachel Tobac, chief executive of SocialProof Security, which helps companies protect themselves from malicious hackers. “If somebody then comes up to you and says, ‘Unfortunately, it stinks, but we really need to get your Social Security number to verify you,’ you can simply ask them to access your records with some other form of ID and see what happens. Sometimes, they should be able to.”

I'm so old I remember when one's social security number was routinely printed below one's address on checks. Now writing a check itself isn't safe:

When you write a check, you're providing a wealth of personal information, including your name, address, bank account number, and signature. This sensitive data can be exploited by fraudsters for identity theft or other malicious purposes, putting your financial security at risk. ‍

Life is much better than it used to be, but not in every case.