re: Hackers may have stolen the Social Security numbers of every American

SSN’s have always been hackable because they are coded by the recorder according to government rules regarding location (city, state, parish/county, and hospital). They can be found in use everywhere now too as an ID even though it was not intended to be an ID (my card states that on the face, issued in 1964 age 3 months)

Just knowing the geographical codes makes them brute force hackable.