Social Security Agency SNAFU

On July 29, 2016 I received an email from the Social Security Administration which read in part, “Starting in August 2016, Social Security is adding a new step to protect your privacy as a my Social Security user.  This new requirement is the result of an executive order for federal agencies to provide more secure authentication for their online services. Any agency that provides online access to a customer’s personal information must use multifactor authentication.

When you sign in at ssa.gov/myaccount with your username and password, we will ask you to add your text-enabled cell phone number.  The purpose of providing your cell phone number is that, each time you log in to your account with your username and password, we will send you a one-time security code you must also enter to log in successfully to your account.

Each time you sign into your account, you will complete two steps:

• Step 1:  Enter your username and password.
• Step 2:  Enter the security code we text to your cell phone (cell phone provider's text message and data rates may apply).”

My initial reaction to this was that there was no way this was going to work! A great number of people in the Senior Citizen demographic don’t text, don’t have a smart phone and don’t need the hassle of the extra step!

Lo and behold, on August 25, 2016 I received another email from the Social Security Administration which read in part, “On July 30, 2016, we began requiring you to sign into your my Social Security account using a one-time code sent via text message. We implemented this new layer of security, known as “multifactor authentication,” in compliance with a Presidential executive order to improve the security of consumer financial transactions.  SSA implemented the improvements aggressively because we have a fundamental responsibility to protect the public’s personal information.

However, multifactor authentication inconvenienced or restricted access to some of our account holders. We’re listening to your concerns and are responding by temporarily rolling back this mandate.”

  

Duh, couldn’t someone in the decision making loop see the folly of this plan?

And, just exactly how much did it cost the American tax payers to fund, “Multifactor authentication”? 

That was a waste of the taxpayers taxes!

Can someone please consider the consequences before the plan is put in play?