You Gotta Be You

   I just received an update from the Social Security Administration.  Yes, it was real! :-)  It was a reminder to log in to the SSA website to check my information online.  That also made me think about advice I've written about in the past... it's critical that you connect and establish your presence on critical government websites before someone else can create an account in your name.

   Here's a rewind of a 2016 post with all the information...

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   I recently received a letter from the SSA (Social Security Administration).  It provided instructions for me to finish setting up my online account.  As I've written in the past you can, and need to, create personal accounts on the SSA and IRS websites.  The key issue is that you need to reserve and establish your identity on these critical government websites before someone else does it for you!  This is ID Fraud is still a big issue.

   These accounts are straightforward to set up.  One thing you will need to do is go through an Identity Proofing process.  That process asks you for some personal information that, in theory, only you should know.  I list info about the irs.gov account creation process in this post.

   Here is some info from the ssa.gov website:

You can create a my Social Security account if you’re age 18 or older, have a Social Security number, a valid email, a U.S. mailing address, and a cell phone that can receive text messages. You’ll need to provide some personal information to confirm your identity; you’ll be asked to choose a username and password; and then provide your cell phone number. You’ll then receive a security code via text that you will be required to enter when you first create an account. We’ll send your cell phone a new security code each time you log in with your username and password. The security code is part of our enhanced security feature to protect your personal information. Keep in mind that your cell phone provider's text message and data rates may apply.

   Now SSA has increased their security by offering two-factor authentication (2FA) on their site.  We've written about 2FA a number of times in the past.  SSA had said this was coming and now it's available.

   I highly recommend that you create accounts on these sites and use 2FA where available.  Here are the instructions for SSA.  Here for the IRS.  You can enable 2-factor authentication on the SSA site when you create your account.  Here's a link to a previous post looking at other sites where 2FA is available.  Double up wherever you can!

News you Need Now (NNN)

    I recently received a letter from the SSA (Social Security Administration).  It provided instructions for me to finish setting up my online account.  As I've written in the past you can, and need to, create personal accounts on the SSA and IRS websites.  The key issue is that you need to reserve and establish your identity on these critical government websites before someone else does it for you!  This is ID Fraud is still a big issue.

   These accounts are straightforward to set up.  One thing you will need to do is go through an Identity Proofing process.  That process asks you for some personal information that, in theory, only you should know.  I list info about the irs.gov account creation process in this post.

   Here is some info from the ssa.gov website:

You can create a my Social Security account if you’re age 18 or older, have a Social Security number, a valid email, a U.S. mailing address, and a cell phone that can receive text messages. You’ll need to provide some personal information to confirm your identity; you’ll be asked to choose a username and password; and then provide your cell phone number. You’ll then receive a security code via text that you will be required to enter when you first create an account. We’ll send your cell phone a new security code each time you log in with your username and password. The security code is part of our enhanced security feature to protect your personal information. Keep in mind that your cell phone provider's text message and data rates may apply.

   Now SSA has increased their security by offering two-factor authentication (2FA) on their site.  We've written about 2FA a number of times in the past.  SSA had said this was coming and now it's available.

   I highly recommend that you create accounts on these sites and use 2FA where available.  Here are the instructions for SSA.  Here for the IRS.  You can enable 2-factor authentication on the SSA site when you create your account.  Here's a link to a previous post looking at other sites where 2FA is available.  Double up wherever you can!

Sign Up Now at IRS.gov!

   ID Fraud has been a popular topic lately.  This is especially timely with it being tax season in the US and the filing deadline around the corner.  I wrote about ID Fraud and taxes a few posts ago.

   I'm a big fan of Brian Krebs' work.  Whether you're a security professional or a consumer interested in the security and privacy of your information (or both!), his blog posts and articles are usually great reads.  He recently put up a post entitled "Sign up at IRS.gov, before the crooks do it for you".  Read it here.

   It turns out that the IRS has a function on its website that allows you to get information about your past and current returns.  You need to create an account to do so.  The site does use a form of "identity proofing".  This means that the site asks you to provide personal data that it matches to information it already has.

   Identity Proofing is a great idea, in theory.  It's designed to bypass the "Facebook attack" that is effective on so many other websites, particularly those that ask for answers to "secret questions".  The so-called Facebook attack is when the answers to the secret questions or other identity information can easily be found on someone's Facebook page, or other social media (since Facebook is the "Kleenex" of social media! :-).

   Side note... as I've discussed in the past, the "correct" way to answer secret questions is to not answer them truthfully.  Then save your answers in your password vault.  You do have a password vault, right?

   The issue is that an ID thief can get to the site and set up an account in your name before you do!  They can then use that to get more identity and tax information about you.  Of course, the potential thief must know or guess a certain amount of information first.

   From the Krebs' article:

If you’re an American and haven’t yet created an account at irs.gov, you may want to take care of that before tax fraudsters create an account in your name and steal your personal and tax data in the process.

   From the IRS.gov website, here is what you need to sign up:

"The personal information you enter must match the information you provided us on your most recent tax return. We use the following information to verify your identity:

• Name
• Social Security Number or Individual Tax ID Number (ITIN)
• Date of Birth
• Filing Status
• Mailing Address
• Third Party Verification Questions - you must provide answers to questions about personal information such as prior address, mortgage information, etc., that only you should know.

You must also provide us with a valid email address, which we will confirm and use to notify you if your registration information changes. Your confirmation email should arrive quickly so check your junk folder if you don't see it."

   Note that you might need your tax return handy when you sign up.  You need to enter your info exactly as it appears in your tax records.  For example, did you use "road" or "rd" or "rd." in your address?

   Whether or not you plan to use the IRS online transcript services, you should still get in there and create your account... before someone does it for you!