The 10 Most Dangerous Places For Your SSN

As we know the Internet can be a scary place filled with all kinds of dangers. Be careful out there in Cyberspace.

Article from DarkReading 

By Kelly Jackson Higgins

College students' SSNs most at risk, followed by banking/financial customers'

Oct 19, 2010 | 12:04 PM

Getting your credit card number stolen is one thing, but when your Social Security number (SSN) is lifted, identity theft really hits home. And as it turns out, some places are more risky than others for storing your SSNs.  Identity theft expert Robert Siciliano, commissioned by McAfee, analyzed reported data breaches during the past year-and-a-half to determine the most dangerous places to give out your SSN: The No. 1 location is universities and colleges, which experienced 108 data breaches involving SSNs between January 2009 and October of this month. Banking and financial institutions were close behind, with 96 such breaches.

Siciliano's pulled his data from breaches published by the Identity Theft Resource Center, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, and the Open Security Foundation during that period.

More than 30 percent of all identity theft victims have had their SSN exposed, according to Javelin Research.
The rest of the top 10:

• Hospitals, with 71 breaches
• State governments, with 57 breaches
• Local governments, with 44 breaches
• Federal Governments, with 33 breaches
• Medical businesses (products and services for the medical field), with 27 breaches
• Nonprofits, with 23 breaches
• Technology companies, with 22 breaches
• Medical insurance and medical offices/clinics, with 21 breaches

The only requirements for showing your SSN, according to the Social Security Administration, are when you provide it to your employer when you first start a new job and to your financial institution for tax reporting, according to McAfee. The SSA recommends keeping your SSN card or any documentation with it in a safe place, and not to carry them around.A federal law requires that SSNs be used for professional licenses, driver's licenses, occupational licenses, recreational licenses, and marriage licenses, as well as by creditors and the Department of Motor Vehicles. And with any cash transaction more than $10,000, an SSN is required, as well as for military business.Siciliano cites ways to guard your SSN, including refusing to provide it, checking your credit report every few months, investing in an ID protection service, trashing mail securely, opting out of junkmail and preapproved credit card offers, and locking down your PC.