Collection and Use of Personal Information

Section 205 of the Social Security Act, as amended; the Government Paperwork Elimination Act (P.L. 105-277); and the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 allows us to collect this information to grant you access to our online services. Furnishing us this information is voluntary. However, failing to provide all or part of the information may prevent you from using our online services.

We will use the information to identify who you are before we provide you with the information you are requesting and for when we may need to communicate with you. We also use an external Identity Services Provider to verify your information against their records. We do not share your Social Security number with them, and they keep your information only for the time permitted by federal laws. We use their fraud prevention services to assist in protecting you from identity theft. We may also share your information for the following purposes, called routine uses:

1. To other Federal agencies and our contractors, including external data sources, to assist us in administering our programs; and
2. To appropriate Federal, State, and local agencies, entities, and persons when: (a) We suspect or confirm a compromise of security or confidentiality of information; (b) We determine that as a result of the suspected or confirmed compromise there is a risk of harm to economic or property interests, risk of identity theft or fraud, or harm to the security or integrity of this system or other systems or programs that rely upon the compromised information; and (c) We determine that disclosing the information to such agencies, entities, and persons will assist us in our efforts to respond to the suspected or confirmed compromise and prevent, minimize, or remedy such harm.

In addition, we may share this information in accordance with the Privacy Act and other Federal laws. For example, where authorized, we may use and disclose this information in computer matching programs, in which our records are compared with other records to establish or verify a person's eligibility for Federal benefit programs and for repayment of incorrect or delinquent debts under these programs.

A list of additional routine uses is available in our Privacy Act System of Records Notice (SORN) 60-0373, entitled Central Repository of Electronic Authentication Data Master File, as published in the Federal Register (FR) on December 19, 2010, at 75 FR 79065. Additional information, and a full listing of all our SORNs, is available on our website at www.ssa.gov/privacy/.

This Privacy Act Statement applies to the entire online authentication process and credential issuance, which includes account setup to account maintenance.