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Elon Musk may have your Social Security number (nymag.com)
submitted 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world
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Summary

Elon Musk and his "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE) have been granted access to the U.S. Treasury’s federal payment system, raising concerns about security and misuse.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent approved the move after a top Treasury official was ousted for resisting.

Critics warn Musk could freeze payments to government programs or manipulate federal contracts.

The move coincides with DOGE’s takeover of the Office of Personnel Management.

Experts call it a dangerous power grab, as Musk holds no official government position.

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[-] spooky2092@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 21 minutes ago

Thanks to Verizon/TMobile/AT&T being the swiss cheese fort Knox, I'd be surprised if Felon Skum didn't have it.

Companies have played fast and loose with our PII for so long that it's at a point where we need something else to act as that value so it's actually secret. But with this administration, that would end up being a wrist tattoo....

[-] atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 35 points 1 hour ago

Everyone has my social security number. It's one of the stupidest security fails of all time that nobody seems to want to fix. And now there is an entire "credit protection" industry so it will remain that way.

[-] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 3 points 1 hour ago

What happens when we file our taxes? Will we even get our refunds?

[-] endeavor@sopuli.xyz 6 points 1 hour ago

Would be funny if there was a mass movement and nobody paid their taxes.

[-] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 1 hour ago

Unfortunately, most people have their taxes withheld from their paychecks, and file their returns so they get a refund.

If people didn't file returns, the IRS would end up with more money.

[-] RubberElectrons@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

I kinda wish this were possible. I'll pay my state, fuck the feds

[-] whotookkarl@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

SSN is not a password and anyone who uses it like one doesn't understand security because you can't change it. It's a user ID, like a finger print or email address.

[-] ansiz@lemmy.world 8 points 2 hours ago

All of my data got breached multiple times going back to the dot-com bubble days, by Yahoo, the original 2015 OPM Beach and by two of the big credit bureaus for a start. If Musk has my social at this point it doesn't matter.

[-] HawlSera@lemm.ee 4 points 1 hour ago

"May or may not, but mostly may."

[-] HappySkullsplitter@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

It's safe to say he has a lot more than that

[-] Diddlydee@feddit.uk 62 points 8 hours ago

Not mine. I live in a country that isn't an absolute joke.

[-] spooky2092@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 19 minutes ago

Keyword unfortunately being "absolute"

[-] FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Just wait until dear old Nigel comes.

Starmer might be your Biden, a short but underwhelming break between far right incompetence (BoJo and Nigel).

[-] LadyMeow@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 3 hours ago

What’s it like? :(

[-] ramenshaman@lemmy.world 12 points 5 hours ago

Must be nice

[-] tal@lemmy.today 6 points 7 hours ago

If it's the UK, the government probably has assigned you a National Insurance number.

[-] endeavor@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 hour ago

We also have id codes but you can't do anything with it except tell your dob. Its used as a username for aystems that need extra security like voting, taxes, medical system or banks and such

[-] Diddlydee@feddit.uk 27 points 7 hours ago

Yes, but apartheid boy has nothing to do with the UK.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 13 points 7 hours ago

He should have nothing to do with the UK, but he's still sticking his fingers in British pies by petitioning for Tommy Robinson's release and promoting Reform UK.

[-] Diddlydee@feddit.uk 4 points 6 hours ago

Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon (the shite) will stay where he belongs regardless, and Reform will never be anything but a gammon minority party.

[-] Highstronaught@feddit.uk 2 points 2 hours ago

I hope it stays that way, but they are already pressuring everyone to move further right. I'm worried that the gammons will vote them in

[-] JayDee@lemmy.world 22 points 7 hours ago

Bruh who doesn't at this point?

[-] ThatGuy46475@lemmy.world 136 points 10 hours ago

So does everyone, thanks Equifax

[-] dan@upvote.au 74 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

It's weird that SSNs are treated as some sort of secret number given they don't have any security features. They were never supposed to be used the way they're used today, but there's no good alternative yet.

The US really needs a replacement, for example a national digital ID based on PKI (public key infrastructure) where you can generate new ID numbers based on a private key. Each bank, lender, employer, etc that needs it would get a unique ID that only works for them, and you could revoke access for just that one company if needed.

Kinda like how OAuth/OIDC login works, where you can log in to sites using your Google account, Apple account, self-hosted Authentik or Authelia, etc. but the site you're logging in to never sees your password. If a site/app misbehaves, you revoke their access to the account, and everything else that uses the account can keep working.

[-] LedgeDrop@lemm.ee 7 points 2 hours ago

I agree in principle, but try explaining that to your grandmother.

[-] _cryptagion@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 hours ago

Here's your ID. You can decide who gets to have it.

Easy. The average person isn't going to care about the nerdy shit behind it, any more than they care how Facebook works behind the scenes.

[-] nomy@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 hour ago

They've been pushing against a national ID for decades so good luck convincing grandma it's not the mark of the beast or something.

[-] JayleneSlide@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

The US really needs a replacement, for example a national digital ID based on PKI... you revoke their access to the account, and everything else that uses the account can keep working

There is already an open standard growing around exactly this concept, Web5 Distributed IDs (DID): https://dev.to/tbdevs/what-is-web5-233o

Disclosure: I worked on the implementation for an Open Banking company (does that need to be disclosed? I'm including it lest someone think I'm a shill)

[-] 800XL@lemmy.world 20 points 7 hours ago

Elon Musk has to go.

[-] ObviouslyNotBanana@lemmy.world 34 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

Just to culture shock Americans: it's not exactly the same but in Sweden our personal numbers are kept in the open. Even online. Searchable databases with names, phone numbers, addresses etc. It tells you if someone has a dog. It tells you if they have a car. Which car, even. Some tell you the income of the person you're searching for. Sites even exist that could tell you if I've commited a crime. Some people think that's unreasonable. Irresponsible even!

That said, as pertains to the article, the fact that he has that info seems pretty unreasonable and irresponsible.

[-] tiredofsametab@fedia.io 15 points 8 hours ago

At least in the past, you could use a person's ssn to open credit cards, change utilities, and generally ruin someone's life. Someone took out a credit card with my SSN when I was like 9 or 10 and it caused issues when I became an adult and tried to get a student loan for uni.

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[-] over_clox@lemmy.world 14 points 10 hours ago

Didn't Elon get hacked and his SS number leaked?

No, I'm not about to go search for that, but I'm pretty sure that happened, with the 23andme data breach...

[-] lemmus@lemmy.world 14 points 9 hours ago

His Schutzstaffel number?

[-] Gork@lemm.ee 4 points 8 hours ago

Was it eighty eight or neinty nein?

[-] Treczoks@lemmy.world 2 points 6 hours ago

Not mine.

[-] ohellidk@sh.itjust.works 8 points 9 hours ago

I'm sure quite a few people have mine. SSN's aren't a secure thing at all. It should be updated.

[-] penquin@lemm.ee 6 points 8 hours ago

You can get anyone's SSN for $15 on the dark web. lol. The amount of leaks/hacks that have happened to all of the companies that require your SSN is insane.

[-] nomy@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 hour ago

You can get it on the clear web for about $20 completely legitimately. Background checks have been a thing forever and reveal basically everything.

[-] penquin@lemm.ee 2 points 1 hour ago

Lmfao. There ya go. Even better.

[-] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 hour ago

Don't they usually ask for your SSN before doing the background check? So they already have it?

[-] nomy@lemmy.zip 1 points 56 minutes ago

You'd hope so but not really, they basically need as much partial information as you can supply so they know they're finding the right records.

Fullz are great because you already know that social belongs to that person but you really just need enough cross-verifiable information to confirm. If you only have one or two pieces of info you can pay somebody like Checkr or Certn to run your check or just find a local PI to pull them. If you have LE connects they have access to databases with criminal histories as well but AFAIK (in my state at least) those searches are logged.

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this post was submitted on 02 Feb 2025
275 points (98.6% liked)

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