McAfee, the antivirus software company, released a list of the most dangerous places to give your Social Security number.

1. Universities and colleges
2. Banking and financial institutions
3. Hospitals
4. State governments
5. Local government
6. Federal government
7. Medical businesses (These are businesses that concentrate on services and products for the medical field, such as distributors of diabetes or dialysis supplies, medical billing services, pharmaceutical companies, etc.)
8. Non-profit organizations
9. Technology companies
10. Health insurers and medical offices

The places are ranked based on the number of data breaches involving Social Security numbers from January 2009 to October 2010. What's most disturbing is that you must disclose your Social Security number if you want to receive services from most of those places, or is required by law or the groups' policy.


See the Federal Trade Commission's identity theft page for information about what you can do if your identity has been stolen.




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