CBS news reports that according to a recent journal article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, it is possible to use publicly available data on state and date of birth to predict someone's Social Security number, particularly if they were born after 1988 and in smaller states. The ability to use statistic inference to predict the sensitive data exposes the Social Security numbers to identity fraud risks on "mass scales," the article said.

Social Security numbers "were designed as identifiers at a time when personal computers and identity theft were unthinkable; today, abused as authentication devices, they enable an 'architecture of vulnerability,' in which losses are incurred even in absence of fraud, because of costs caused by attempts to defend, and exploit, the system," the article concluded.

The researchers from Carnegie Mellon University analyzed Social Security numbers of people who have died to detect statistical patterns in the assignment of numbers. They were then able to use those patterns to predict a range of values likely to include a living person's Social Security number. Birth data, meanwhile, can be inferred from data brokers, voter registration lists, online white pages, and social-networking profiles, the report said.

The researchers identified in a single attempt the first five Social Security digits for 44 percent of the records of the people listed as dead from 1989 to 2003 and the complete Social Security numbers in fewer than 1,000 attempts for 8.5 percent of those records. On average, the researchers matched on the first attempt the first five digits for 7 percent of all records for people born nationwide between 1973 and 1988!

"Extrapolating to the U.S. living population, this would imply the potential identification of millions of SSNs for individuals whose birth data were available," the article says.

How to Monitor and Protect your Identity

Fortunately, there are many services available to help protect your identity when you are offline and online. I like to keep an inexpensive home office paper shredder in my study and any paper trash that has my name, address and/or social security number is shredded. As an added measure to avoid reassemblers, I keep two recycling boxes in my office which I use to divide the shredded document and put out the boxes on alternate weeks.

From on online perspective, I like to use the free government service - annnalcreditreport.com - to check my credit reports and myFICO (the original company behind the FICO score system) to monitor my FICO score. Other leading online identity monitoring and protection services include:

- LifeLock: a leading proactive identify protection service with regular monitoring and alerts for suspicious activity. You've probably see the ads with their CEO publicly displaying his social security number and I know a number of people who have signed up with them have had positive feedback to date. Their biggest selling point is their $1 Million Guarantee, but like any service always weigh up the monthly cost versus what level of protection (insurance) you want

- Equifax's Credit Gold 3-in-1 Watch allows you to monitor all 3 of your nationwide credit reports by alerting you within 24 hours of key changes. It is one of the most comprehensive packages currently available for less than 50c a day.

At the end of the day, you need to be careful with your sensitive documents and a few extra added measures - online and offline - can ensure you identify is as safe as possible.

Related
~ Will there be More Stimulus Checks, Social Security Payments and Tax Credits in 2010, 2011
~ Are you using these 10 online financial security measures?
~ 10 things to know about your Credit Score