Identity Theft Made Easy by Outdated Drivers Licenses
Virginia and many other states used to use Social Security Numbers on drivers licenses. Due to the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 which went into effect on December 17, 2005, all new licenses and registrations issued since that date have randomly assigned numbers.
Unfortunately, not all of the licenses from before have expired, and a serious security breach that occurred during the elections in Charlottesville, Virginia could have serious ramifications. Two laptops with personal information such as the names, addresses, birth years and DMV numbers of every registered voter in the city were stolen after the polls closed on election night. This was bad enough, but when the fact that seven out of ten Virginia voters still have their SSN listed as their driver’s license number is considered, the potential for fraud is huge.
Public’s Right To Know?
Charlottesville’s city spokesperson, Ric Barrick, said police told the city to keep matters quiet, stating that it was an ongoing investigation. The city also claimed that no social security numbers were in the records, which are public record. DMV records such as drivers license numbers, however, are NOT public records, and the city’s claim that a scan of the database by the vendor providing the polling equipment reveled no SSNs on the laptops has been viewed with skepticism.
Citizens are outraged by the apparent lack of concern, and the city’s claims are being questioned. The claim that out of 25,000 registered voters, not one still had drivers license with an SSN would be wholly out of line with the stats of the state of Virginia as a whole, and is skeptical at best.
City and Electoral Board Profess Unconcern
The Electoral Board stated that the question was moot, as three levels of passwords would have to be gotten past to access any information off of the records, and that in any case, the data was inaccessible except on Election Day itself; or so they claim the system was set up.
Rick Sincere of the Electoral Board stated that “The most likely scenario is that whoever stole these computers tried to turn them on and realized they were useless and they dumped them somewhere,” which may well be the case but does not excuse the breach of security at whatever level.
Check Your Number!
More cases of ID theft occur in states where SSNs can be lifted easily, and drivers license numbers are often used for all types of records. Don’t have your DL number printed on checks, and guard it as vigilantly as you would your SSN! Most importantly, if you live in a state that formerly used SSNs as drivers license numbers, request yours to be changed if it hasn’t been done already.
