Filtered Geek

Interesting article floating around the net in the past couple days, it seems that individuals at Carnegie Mellon have devised a algorithm that is able to guess people's social security numbers based on their date of birth and home town. The article can be found on Wired.com, with the actual page created by the individuals at ssnstudy.org.

Note here that these people are not rummaging through your trash can, but gathering seemingly simple publicly available data from social networking sites. This is close to but not quite Social Engineering (Gaining data from a individual by deception), this is data that you have willingly displayed.

How Can I Protect Myself?

Social Networking is not inherently bad, it's a great way to keep in touch with people across the world. However being smart about what you choose to display is key. Here are a couple suggestions to help keep you safe online:

• Don't post or display any information that might be able to identify you personally
• While displaying your birthday might be fun, it can be used to help identify you
• Keep your personal details private, and only share with people you trust

For the most part, don't post publicly what you don't want people to know. Remember, posting something online means that it is now available, and most likely backed up and retrievable. What you say and do online is not always as private as you want / hope.

Keep your wits and common sense about you when using social networking, and you can keep safe online.