3 ms·

I think the solution here is laws which require anonymity, and that includes in banking (where it will never happen). That is because a couple days ago, I got

I think the solution here is laws which require anonymity, and that includes in banking (where it will never happen). That is because a couple days ago, I got a text message from tmobile (which seemed genuine) basically saying that my account was one of a larger subset of prepaid phone accounts which had been compromised and that my personal information had been potentially taken by "hackers". To which I got a good chuckle, because tmobile is one of the few phone companies that will let you create completely anonymous prepaid accounts using cash and without filling out any information. AKA you buy a sim card for $$$ and that is it. So, basically the only information they lost of mine as far as I can tell, is the phone number and type of phone I'm using (which they gather from their network). If they got the "meta" data about usage/location/etc that would have been different but it didn't sound like the hacker got that far. Had this been a post-paid account they would have my name/address/SSN/etc.

TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
Do you think it’s reasonable to believe your name / address / SSN / DOB / etc is already out there? I’m of the opinion it’s too late for prevention and we need, instead, mitigation.
- a3n 7y ago
  Exactly. The very reason for existence of the two companies, pdl and oxy, is to tie n pieces of data with m pieces of data. So depending on how the "anonymous" phone number was used, it's plausible that the number can be connected with other PII. In fact I wonder if there is any such thing as non-PII, given the existence of such companies.
  - ryandrake 7y ago
    Companies need to stop treating knowledge of this information as proof that you are who you say you are. I would have no problem publicly posting my name, social security number, birthday, mother's maiden name, etc., if not for the fact that someone can actually use this information to open a bank account or take out a loan in my name. It's ridiculous that this is all it takes in most cases.
    - TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
      > Companies need to stop treating knowledge of this information as proof that you are who you say you are. If we assume that isn't happening in the very immediate future due to the latency of introducing new legislation... Do we have any other options to protect ourselves? I've personally worked myself in to a bad credit rating. I have a home loan and a credit card, but any new credit applications auto-reject. Not the ideal scenario though!

TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago

Do you think it’s reasonable to believe your name / address / SSN / DOB / etc is already out there? I’m of the opinion it’s too late for prevention and we need, instead, mitigation.

a3n 7y ago
Exactly. The very reason for existence of the two companies, pdl and oxy, is to tie n pieces of data with m pieces of data. So depending on how the "anonymous" phone number was used, it's plausible that the number can be connected with other PII. In fact I wonder if there is any such thing as non-PII, given the existence of such companies.
- ryandrake 7y ago
  Companies need to stop treating knowledge of this information as proof that you are who you say you are. I would have no problem publicly posting my name, social security number, birthday, mother's maiden name, etc., if not for the fact that someone can actually use this information to open a bank account or take out a loan in my name. It's ridiculous that this is all it takes in most cases.
  - TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
    > Companies need to stop treating knowledge of this information as proof that you are who you say you are. If we assume that isn't happening in the very immediate future due to the latency of introducing new legislation... Do we have any other options to protect ourselves? I've personally worked myself in to a bad credit rating. I have a home loan and a credit card, but any new credit applications auto-reject. Not the ideal scenario though!