Jared Serbu reports:
The Defense Department is continuing its effort to move away from the use of Social Security numbers to identify service members, although full implementation of an alternative system of ID numbers designed to decrease identity theft will not happen until 2012.
Last week, the Navy closed down one potential fraud magnet. Prior to the change, announcements of promotions and other personnel messages posted to a public Navy website as recently as 2008 contained the last four digits of individual members’ Social Security numbers.
The office of the Secretary of Defense ordered in a Nov. 23 memorandum that no part of any social security number be posted on any public-facing website.
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