Predicting Social Security Numbers from Public Data in USA

SSN Study - FAQ: "We studied the assignment scheme of Social Security numbers (SSNs) and discovered that individual SSNs can be predicted entirely from public data. Specifically, we found that it is possible to combine information from government sources with simple demographic data (such as an individual's state and date of birth, widely available from commercial databases, voter registration lists, or online social networks) to predict narrow ranges of values wherein individual SSNs are likely to fall."

Alessandro Acquisti (Heinz College, Carnegie Mellon University)

Ralph Gross (Heinz College, Carnegie Mellon University)

Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, July 7, 2009

To be presented at BlackHat Las Vegas, July 29, 2009