alt Hacker NewsWhy is it insane? You can't do much with the just the CPF number in Brazil, it is not the same as SSN, a CPF is solely for identification.
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aschwtzr • yesterday at 7:32 PM
As I understand it's actually pretty similar to an SSN, i.e it's used for financial and government identification. When it gets used for both trivial and non-trivial things it becomes a huge vector for identity fraud.
My name, birthdate, address and contact info are all widely available online so keeping those government IDs secret is what backstops identity fraud.
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What’s backwards is an SSN being treated as a secure token. It’s nothing of the sort.