Report Summary - A-01-01-01018

Disclosure of Personal Beneficiary Information to the Public (Limited Distribution) (A-01-01-01018)

The Social Security Administration (SSA) releases private information of individuals on the Death Master File (DMF). The DMF is a national file containing sensitive personal information, including the Social Security number of individuals who have been recorded in SSA's systems as deceased. Further, SSA makes DMF information available to the public. We believe the erroneous dates of death posted to the DMF place SSA at-risk for disclosure of sensitive information, potentially subject to Privacy Act provisions.

We recommended that SSA:

Establish a workgroup.

Consider routinely matching the DMF with the Master Representative Payee File.

Consider implementing prior Office of the Inspector General recommendations.

In response to the report, SSA agreed to establish the suggested workgroup and provide updated information on our prior recommendations.

This report contains information that is sensitive and confidential. For security reasons, distribution of this report was limited to those with a need to know.