• If codes and algorithms can be created, they can be reverse engineered. We need to recognize there is no perfectly secure method, and never will be.

    As well, though we might be savvy computer users, we must recognize that most of the computing public is not. I will wager there are more users who simply and mindlessly hand out their SSN to web sites than there are those whose SSN is "figured out" by some algorithm.

    Though not a solution, I personally would like to see better enforcement of existing laws. If the US extradites people around the world for drug dealing and this kind of thing, why not for computer scams? If someone in this country can go to jail for 10 to 20 years for buying a bag of pot, why do we simply slap the wrists of those who steal data, and run scams? Although I dont advocate drug use, surely computer scammers are doing far more damage than pot-smokers!

    As a person who has had two credit card ripoffs in this lifetime, I dont have as much faith as you in banks - again, they are not 100% secure - nothing is - hence, I tend to think tougher and more strict enforcement is a better answer.

    When you try to outsmart Hackers, you simply challenge them to work harder. When you throw a Hacker in jail for a few years without a computer, well... which would you choose?

    There's no such thing as dumb questions, only poorly thought-out answers...