The agency tried once before and that attempt didn’t work out so well.
The Social Security Administration is planning to try again to make its online accounts more secure by modifying its earlier attempt, according to Investment News in “Social Security Administration steps up online security.”
Online information is easy to obtain from the agency by a legitimate user and it appears that it does not take very long for crooks who are digitally savvy to log in either. The agency attempted to fix this problem in 2016, by requiring a two-step verification process before account access was granted.
That was short-lived, however, as many people were unable to log in to their accounts.
In its last attempt, the agency sent users a code via cellphone to verify their accounts before they could log in. That was a problem, since many elderly people do not use cellphones.
This time around the agency will let people choose to have the code sent by cellphone or email. It is assumed that if are trying to access their Social Security accounts online, then they will almost certainly have email accounts, even if they do not have cellphones.
This change is scheduled to take effect on June 10, 2017.
An elder law attorney can help with any difficulties you may have accessing your information from the Social Security Administration.
Reference: Investment News (May 15, 2017) “Social Security Administration steps up online security.”
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