flyawayfriend

A friend of mine, who lives in another state, told me that she just got a job at the front desk at Delta. After I gave her my full name, middle name included, my address, and my email, she then asks me for my FULL SS# so that she can fill out the travel companion form.

Do Delta employees regularly fill out the travel companion form for their designated candidates while asking for their full names and full Social Security numbers??!
Is this part of their protocol?

It seems very fishy to me, obviously.

Widgets

flyawayfriend

Thanks. Is there another way of sending this sensitive info without giving it to her over the phone/email/text, such as a form that can be sent in the mail or something?

CPMaverick

If she is really your friend, ask her

If you want fully encrypted communication. WhatsApp is best. If you really want to be safe, certified mail should work (you can even write it in invisible ink )

flyerCO

No the friend is the one that must manage their list. The friend works for DL and thus would be able to see it anyway.

Is this really a friend, or is this a "friend" who happens to be offering to make you their friend for $? Sorry, but seems weird not wanting to hand out SSN to friend, who'd be able too see it in system anyway.

awayIgo

sydneyracquelle

WidgetsOfTheSkies

SuperG1955

WhatsApp is not secure unless you do a lot of configuration and option changes. If you think I'm wrong, ask Paul Manafort.

As was implied in earlier posts, this doesn't sound like a long term trusting relationship.

Centurion

None of your info is confidential if someone wants it. Just make it difficult. You can break up what you give someone into separate emails and leave out a number or write it backwards etc as previous suggested.

LondonElite

pvn

Right, you have to make sure it's set for end-to-end encryption, which isn't obvious and can be undermined by features like "chat backups" etc.

Signal is better for secure communications.

That said, I wouldn't have any qualms about giving mine over the phone (assuming I knew who I was giving it to). Unless you have a reason to suspect you (or the person you're talking to) are being specifically targeted, it's almost inconceivable someone is listening in on your phone calls.

pvn

what

Nobody "intercepts" individual emails. If your account or the account of the person you're communicating with is compromised, then all of the emails going through that address are going to exposed.

jetsfan92588

There are certainly some security advantages in sending information that must be used together in different emails. In addition, lots of players "intercept" individual emails. If there's a sniffer sitting right in front of Delta's mail servers and the emails are sent with a sufficient time lag it may be difficult for that party to put the packets of the second email together with the first. It's also possible, though probably unlikely, that the packets for the second email take a different route than those for the first email, in which case a sniffer sitting at most places in the middle won't see both emails.

However, this doesn't protect against end point compromise as you reference (OP's email account or the employee's email account being compromised).

If OP is so worried about this, why is a phone call not an acceptable method. For someone to be listening in on calls on either side (assuming you call the employee's personal number), they almost certainly already have the ability to figure out your SSN.

DLASflyer