Protecting Your Social Security

At Social Security, protecting your personal information is more important than ever. We continue to evaluate and improve our robust cyber-security program to safeguard your information. The thing is, we can’t do it alone. You can help us secure your information by taking one of these steps:

• Open your personal my Social Security account. A my Social Security account is your gateway to many of our online services. Create your account today and take away the risk of someone else trying to create one in your name, even if they obtain your Social Security number.
• If you already have a my Social Security account, but haven’t signed in lately, take a moment to log in to easily take advantage of our second method to identify you each time you log in. This is in addition to our first layer of security, a username and password. You can choose either your cell phone number or your email address as your second identification method. Using two ways to identify you when you sign on will help protect your account from unauthorized use and potential identity theft. If you suspect identity theft, report it to our Office of the Inspector General and visit www.identitytheft.gov.
• If you know your Social Security information has been compromised, and if you don’t want to do business with Social Security online, you can use our Block Electronic Access. You can block any automated telephone and electronic access to your Social Security record. No one, including you, will be able to see or change your personal information on the internet or through our automated telephone service. If you block access to your record and then change your mind in the future, you can contact Social Security and ask us to unblock it after you prove your identify. This resource is available to certain victims of identity theft and those who need extra security.

We will continue to do our part to protect what’s important to you. And we’ll continue to advise you on how to protect yourself.

Contributor Kirk Larson is a public affairs specialist with Social Security Washington.