CISA Director Pushes to Discontinue Social Security Numbers as Identification

Ekaterina_Minaeva/Shutterstock.com

Industry is eager to promote alternatives and improvements for digital identity. 

SAN FRANCISCO — Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Christopher Krebs is embracing the goal of ending reliance on Social Security numbers amid longstanding concerns they make citizens more vulnerable than secure. 

“What are the things we can do down the road to help ensure that we have a more secure identity? Move away from the Social Security number as an identification element,” Krebs said during a keynote interview at the RSA cybersecurity conference Tuesday. 

Krebs was speaking with Heather Dahl, CEO of the Sovrin Foundation, which makes a blockchain-enabled digital identity tool. She was very excited to hear of CISA’s plans. 

In 2015, analysts at Verizon, which produces an annual report of hacking trends, estimated 60% to 80% of Americans’ Social Security numbers are already exposed, leaving individuals open to identity theft and financial loss.   

Efforts to reduce government agencies’ use of the nine-digit numbers as a unique identifier go back to requirements the Office of Management and Budget issued in 2007. But progress has been slow, and more than 10 years and several massive data breaches later, experts were still appealing to Congress to replace or improve the Social Security number as a way to verify individuals are who they say they are.  

In 2022, a law banning federal agencies from printing Social Security numbers on government mail will take effect. Last January, the Social Security Administration announced a search for vendors who could tokenize the Social Security number to comply.

CISA’s effort, in collaboration with industry leaders from a presidential advisory panel that produced a 2018 “moonshot” plan to make the internet safe and secure by 2028, would be more ambitious.

“We work with a range of partners, including the President’s National Security and Telecommunications Advisory [Committee] to look at what are alternative identity management opportunities,” Krebs said.

NSTAC’s moonshot report highlights the need for an “identity paradigm shift.” 

President Trump never publicly acknowledged the report, which advised him to establish a moonshot council, the leader of which would work with Congress to secure the massive investments in technology NSTAC recommended. But CISA has taken up the mantle, leading action items, such as the execution of “grand challenges,” the report outlines.

Bradford Willke, CISA’s acting director of stakeholder engagement and cyber infrastructure resilience, is scheduled to participate in an RSA panel Wednesday to share details about the final concepts for the grand challenges, including on digital identity.   

At an NSTAC meeting last week, Scott Charney, the vice president of security policy at Microsoft who serves as vice chair of the committee, proposed making digitally secure Social Security numbers a future “study topic,” for the group. He distributed a paper to members discussing how “both federal and private transactions, including those related to National Security and Emergency Preparedness, can be made are more secure.” 

But during the meeting, Willke noted, “that work will proceed whether it becomes a study topic or not.”

“The moonshot effort is at least proceeding with several grand challenges around this whole notion of identifiers, identity management,” he said. “So in a number of ways, we've got to tackle the identity issues that we face through the current means we have.”

Willke added he was very excited to see that they were going to “continue to press energy into the Cybersecurity Moonshot at RSA.” 

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.