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Restrictions on Use of Social Security Numbers ‘Inevitable,’ Say Privacy Analysts
By Brian Orsak
printBanks will soon need to revamp how they handle customers' Social Security numbers. Seeking to combat identity theft, federal and state lawmakers have advanced a number of initiatives that would restrict how banks and other companies use Social Security numbers to identify consumers. Two bills approved by congressional committees in the past month would limit when financial institutions could buy and sell such information. The measures follow a number of high-profile breaches that have focused government attention on data protection. In March, Framingham, Mass.-based retailer TJX Cos. Disclosed that 45.7 million credit and debit card numbers stored in its database...
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TJX will provide as much as $40.9 million in pretax funds to compensate U.S. Visa issuers for the cost of reporting the breach and replacing credit and debit cards exposed to hackers. Between 45.7 million and 100 million consumer records were exposed in the breach of TJX's computer systems.
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Charges made to fraudulent accounts in the victims' names ranged between $50 and $500,000 and, in aggregate, increased 78 percent from 2004 to 2006, according to a study by the Identity Theft Resource Center.
A report issued by San Diego, Calif.-based ID Analytics, which makes ID theft software, looked at about a dozen data breaches involving Social Security numbers and other identifying information.
A security breach at retailer TJX Cos. last year cost banks that reissued payment cards as much as $83 million, according to estimates by credit card company Visa USA. Credit card company officials say the breach exposed about 100 million credit and debit card numbers.