3 ms·

> a contract to assist the IRS in verifying “taxpayer identities” I'm guessing they will use the last 6 digits of the SSN for verification purposes. > the IRS

by IncRnd 9y ago

> a contract to assist the IRS in verifying “taxpayer identities” I'm guessing they will use the last 6 digits of the SSN for verification purposes. > the IRS has determined Equifax is the only business capable of providing this service We all know that isn't true. There is something very rotten with this. Anyone in possession of the Equifax breach data can get validated as 143 million different individuals.

VLM 9y ago
Presumably the 143 million identities are valid. Would be an epic troll if 99% were salt/fake only to detect and track use. Authentication is verifying someone is the person represented by a valid ID Authorization in this case is some authenticated person having the legal authority to look at or fill out someone's tax paperwork, not necessarily the same as the person under discussion, consider my accountant or my wife's PoA over her elderly uncle, doing taxes and financial things. You can be super black pilled about the IRS or perhaps slightly more white pilled that they're only doing validation... if I live at 221B Baker Street and I type in 2218 Baker Street it would be nice if that could be caught and fixed. Yeah, yeah, I know, reality is probably some fuzzy location in between. Although it sounds weird for a company based on gatekeeping "secret" data (which hasn't been secret in a long time) to allow its secret data to leak, its an old business model to create a problem which surprisingly enough you also have a profitable solution. Its highly likely in a year or two we'll all have Equifax smart chip ID cards. Like a military CAC card but with 100 times more users.
- IncRnd 9y ago
  > Presumably the 143 million identities are valid. Would be an epic troll if 99% were salt/fake only to detect and track use. The 143 million PII records likely represent almost every adult taxpayer in the US. These records didn't need to be released purposefully. Even if stolen, nothing but the possession of those records may be needed to authenticate as almost any one of the adult taxpayers in the US. > Authentication is verifying someone is the person represented by a valid ID Why do you believe that auth in this context requires validity of ID or even an ID of any kind? > Its highly likely in a year or two we'll all have Equifax smart chip ID cards. I'm not convinced this is a highly likely scenario.
emodendroket 9y ago
> We all know that isn't true. There is something very rotten with this. This is par for the course with procurement, isn't it?
- IncRnd 9y ago
  Indeed it is.

by IncRnd 9y ago

VLM 9y ago

Presumably the 143 million identities are valid. Would be an epic troll if 99% were salt/fake only to detect and track use. Authentication is verifying someone is the person represented by a valid ID Authorization in this case is some authenticated person having the legal authority to look at or fill out someone's tax paperwork, not necessarily the same as the person under discussion, consider my accountant or my wife's PoA over her elderly uncle, doing taxes and financial things. You can be super black pilled about the IRS or perhaps slightly more white pilled that they're only doing validation... if I live at 221B Baker Street and I type in 2218 Baker Street it would be nice if that could be caught and fixed. Yeah, yeah, I know, reality is probably some fuzzy location in between. Although it sounds weird for a company based on gatekeeping "secret" data (which hasn't been secret in a long time) to allow its secret data to leak, its an old business model to create a problem which surprisingly enough you also have a profitable solution. Its highly likely in a year or two we'll all have Equifax smart chip ID cards. Like a military CAC card but with 100 times more users.

IncRnd 9y ago
> Presumably the 143 million identities are valid. Would be an epic troll if 99% were salt/fake only to detect and track use. The 143 million PII records likely represent almost every adult taxpayer in the US. These records didn't need to be released purposefully. Even if stolen, nothing but the possession of those records may be needed to authenticate as almost any one of the adult taxpayers in the US. > Authentication is verifying someone is the person represented by a valid ID Why do you believe that auth in this context requires validity of ID or even an ID of any kind? > Its highly likely in a year or two we'll all have Equifax smart chip ID cards. I'm not convinced this is a highly likely scenario.

emodendroket 9y ago

> We all know that isn't true. There is something very rotten with this. This is par for the course with procurement, isn't it?

IncRnd 9y ago
Indeed it is.