Discussion: SS# for US citizens?

I registered last night (8/31) but the option to provide a social security number for US citizens was listed as "no longer available". Is this no longer a requirement for registration?

I entered my SSN when I registered. How will this information be handled after the event? Will it be erased from the database?I'm worried about cyber security.

Just to be clear: I personally don't mind providing my SSN for the event - but I wasn't able to do so during registration. The option for US citizens to provide their SSN was listed as "this item is no longer available" (or something quite similar to that).

Due to the security implications of this information being collected in eventreg, the fields have been removed, and that data is being purged from the database.

Discussions are ongoing as to how to handle the information collection for base access.

Do not ever store SSN and birthdate in the same online database. Preferably, don't store them offline in the same database, either. It's not illegal in the US yet, but it should be. In our db's at work, they are always kept separate and you need a different password for each.

Given that myriad things ask for and even publish your birthdate, including social media, and identifying information is being stolen constantly (both a state agency and a major credit reporting agency have notified me of a hack of significant info; perhaps more has happened), the world needs better much ways to authenticate people. In the meantime, we should be careful what info we ask for. Orienteering doesn't need much.

Orienteering doesn't need much, but a military base (Quantico Marine Base, where the competition is) apparently does.

I am pretty sure Event Reg doesn't routinely ask for birthdate. (Just birth year.) I'm not sure if the QOC meet needed to, though.

Why the hell would you need SSN for an _ORIENTEERING MEET_?
Or is this something else you are talking about?

The orienteering meet is on a Marine Base. The SSN isn't required for the orienteering, but is required to get into the base.

Just saw that registration was closed...

A temporary situation, presumably?

@Jim, agreed! It's nutty that those two relatively easily acquired facts provide the keys to the kingdom. What should really be illegal is using them to key databases at all. However, that is the world we live in, so let's not make it worse by sticking them in a hackable file online.

@GuyO
according to Ed: "QOC registration is closed while we deal with issues of SSN collection for base access."

Whenever I find this happening, I should take advantage of the situation by entering a fake SSN, so that when the hackers get it, it will just waste their time.
J-J Cote SSN 012-34-5678
J-J Cote SSN 314-15-9265
J-J Cote SSN 867-53-09E9

Back in May 2016, I took some friends to a local event on the base (Combat Village). We all provided SSNs in advance, but it wasn't thru EventReg. Might have been a stand-alone page set up just for that event...

EDIT: It was this page