Military Overuses PII Raises ID Theft Risk - MUST READ!!!

Report: Uninformed, Cavalier Culture Limits Efforts to Curb PII Use

By Eric Chabrow, Executive Editor, GovInfoSecurity.com

The military's use of Social Security numbers and other forms of personal identifiable information such as birth dates places service members at a higher risk of identity theft than the population at large, and efforts to limit their use are meeting resistance by an "uninformed, sometimes cavalier" military culture.

That's the thrust of a paper written by four senior Army officers and West Point faculty members, entitled The Military's Cultural Disregard for Personal Information, which appears on the website of Small Wars Journal.

"In an era when an individual's Social Security number and date of birth have become the keys to identity theft, the ubiquitous use of the Social Security number by the military services is reckless," the paper says. "The problem is compounded by an uninformed, sometimes cavalier, culture and attitude surrounding the protection of PII that is common in the military."

In an interview, one of the paper's authors addresses the ubiquitous of Social Security numbers in military life. "We use the Social Security number in every aspects, both mundane and sensitive," Lt. Col. Gregory Conti says. "We use the Social Security number as an identifier and as a password. Children 10 years old and up have a military ID card with their sponsor's Social Security number on it. It's in every facet of our lives. It's in our recycling bins. We shout it out in formation; we thumbtack it to bulletin boards. It's everywhere, so we're courting disaster in how we us it."

To read the entire article, click here - http://www.govinfosecurity.com/articles.php?art_id=3150&rf=2010-12-08-eg