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America Vulnerable to Cybercrime!
G.s Gayathri :-
A citizen of a country needs to be authenticated by the government. It helps the government to recognise the citizen of the country.
The United States never considered issue of an identification card for its citizens. So, it decided to make the Social Security Card an important identity proof for every service the citizen availed.
What exactly was the purpose of an SSC? The necessity of an SSC was realised at the time of The Great Depression. The collapse of millions of investors due to the stock market crash made the economy live through extreme poverty and hunger. The government decided to issue a Social Security Number which needed to be presented to banks. Citizens must deposit a certain amount out of their monthly income into a vault which can only be withdrawn after retirement. The aim was to safeguard citizens from going bankrupt since many Americans did not save money.
The problem arose when the Income Tax Department was not able to identify the number of people who were paying tax and who did not. So, they decided to use the Social Security Number as an authentication criterion. But they did not keep the fundamental pointers in mind.
The main purpose of an SSC was defeated. It did not comprise of a photograph or biometric information and they conveniently neglected the date of birth too. It is only a number which is weak in every domain. Currently every citizen is supposed to have an SSC, from infants to adults, but it is an Income-regulation tool. It does not make sense why infants are supposed to have it. It is made compulsory to present an SSC to create bank accounts. Another loophole is that it can be forged easily. It is just a number printed on a cardboard which misses out on authentic signatures like a QR code, or a seal from America. It fails to be a proper identification card and an authentic number.
The SSC has major flaws. If the number falls prey to a cybercriminal, it may lead to stealing of identity.
The Social Security Number can help criminals perform atrocious actions. Cases of identity confusion are in limelight. Americans are not safeguarded from cybercrime. They fear identity theft. Having a weak authentication system and lack of proper authentic documents has brought them to misery. Will the citizens continue to be trapped by the cybercriminals or will the US Government strengthen the system in order to safeguard the interest of common man?
About campus Jounalist- G. S. Gayathri is a student pursuing B. A. Mass Communication at St Mary’s College, Hyderabad. She likes to learn new skills. Along with her busy student life, she manages to work for this internship to gain experience. She aspires to become a good writer and blogger someday.
