May 28, 2016

This Will Certainly Encourage Greater Use Of Social Security's Online Systems

     From a report on this week's Congressional hearing on Social Security's information systems:
... During the hearing, [Acting Social Security Commissioner] Colvin announced the agency will, starting this summer, improve security with additional personal information protection: Social Security website users will need to enter a username, password and one-time texted passcode to a Social Security-registered cellphone to access their accounts. ...

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

They don't have a clue. What a joke.

Anonymous said...

My clients have a hard enough time just trying to get into their account much less using a cell phone to send and receive text messages

Anonymous said...

Congress yells at SSA for insecure systems and when they try to implement something to make them more secure, I'm sure they'll yell at them because it's inconvenient.

the more locks you put on something, the safer it is and the longer it takes to get inside. do you want it safe or easy?

Anonymous said...

anonymous 4:49 is exactly right. Get dinged by the IG because folks are spoofing beneficiaries and redirecting benefits and add additional protection and get dinged because it's hard and or inconvenient. WTF people.

Anonymous said...

The chairman (Chaffetz) didn't know the difference between a cyber attack and fraud. We finally have a CIO who is tech savvy and Congress will probably get rid of him so they could have a punching bag to beat up on.

Anonymous said...

Hello, technology is not the answer because it will never be secure. Right now there is 12 year old who had already figured out how to outsmart our system. We need well trained, well vetted federal employees doing this work. Not some computer program.

Anonymous said...

So that would mean that anyone without texting service (and yes, there are a lot of people who don't, especially those over 60) can't use our internet services and have to call or come in person. I see the need for extra security, but it will increase our workloads.

Anonymous said...

They already force you to change your password every 6 months or so to access either your social security or medicare online account. I understand having to do so once in a good while but every 6 months is silly.

Anonymous said...

mixed feelings about this... yes, security is important. I am an attorney and already use the password system to look at my client's SSA files. My younger clients will not have a problem with getting text.

But my 83 year old mom, who is extremely bright and uses the internet with no problem has not been able to master texting. She will not be able to access her Social Security file online. How many other senior/disabled citizens will lose access using this system?

Anonymous said...

Thank you

Anonymous said...

Technology is important but we still need the human touch. It's a balancing act!

Anonymous said...

Is this only for "MyAccount", the personal info account? Hopefully it is not for using the general socialsecurity.gov website!

Anonymous said...

The two factor authentication is only using MySocialSecurity, not browsing the website.