Report says government agencies lax in guarding SS numbers

WASHINGTON -- The government can't be trusted to keep the security in Social Security, at least when it comes to numbers, the agency's inspector general says.

Government contractors pose a big risk, said the Social Security Administration IG's report, released Tuesday. Examples: one agency allowed access to a database before background checks on the contractor's workers had been completed; contractors for another agency kept personal identifying information in unlocked file cabinets and storage rooms; one agency couldn't identify which of its contractors had access to the numbers.

Social Security numbers have "become a key for any unscrupulous individual, including terrorists, to unlock the door to an individual's identity," said Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fla., chairman of the House Ways and Means Social Security subcommittee.

"These report findings are particularly disturbing since federal programs require the use of Social Security numbers and therefore have the utmost responsibility to protect them," said Shaw, who issued the report with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chairwoman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee.

Of the 15 agencies reviewed in the study, 14 lacked adequate controls over contractors' access to and use of Social Security numbers. Nine agencies lacked proper controls over access to numbers maintained in their own computer systems.

One agency did not have policies or practices laid out to delete contractors' access to computer systems after they had left or their jobs had expired.

Another agency unnecessarily displayed Social Security numbers on documents it sent to an entity that did not need them.

"Some federal agencies are at risk for improper access, disclosure and use of SSNs by external entities, despite safeguards to prevent such activity," the report said.