In 2017, Home Affairs went peak incompetent when they leaked data through a contact form on their website.
At the same time, a real-estate group exposed an easily accessible database containing a range of details pertaining to virtually all South African citizens.
A database containing sensitive information – including ID numbers and passwords – was found on a public web server belonging to ViewFines.
When we think about dangerous leaked information, we immediately go to banking details, emails and (dodgy) photographs.
However, according to MyBroadband, even the smallest amount of info can empower an attacker to gain access to private information – your accounts, for example.
In addition to this, your ID number reveals a surprising amount of information about you. Here’s how to decode it:
- A South African ID number is a 13-digit number which is defined by the following format: YYMMDDSSSSCAZ.
- The first six digits (YYMMDD) are based on your date of birth. For example, 23 January 1988 becomes 880123. Although rare, it can happen that someone’s birth date does not correspond with their ID number.
- The next four digits (SSSS) are used to define your gender, with only the first digit of the sequence relevant. Females have a number of 0 to 4, while males are 5 to 9.
- The next digit (C) is 0 if you are an SA citizen, or 1 if you are a permanent resident.
- The next digit (A) was used until the late 1980s to indicate a person’s race. This has been eliminated and old ID numbers were reissued to remove this.
- The last digit (Z) is a checksum digit, used to check that the number sequence is accurate using the Luhn algorithm.
Here’s a breakdown of how your ID number is structured:
Before Apartheid race classifications were abandoned in the late 1980s, ‘digit A’ referred to race group.
- 0 — White
- 1 – Cape Coloured
- 2 – Malay
- 3 – Griqua
- 4 – Chinese
- 5 – Indian
- 6 – Other Asian
- 7 – Other Coloured
The last digit of a South African ID number is calculated using the Luhn algorithm, which allows for basic error detection. If you want to check whether or not your ID number is valid, you apply the algorithm like this:
- Working from the rightmost digit of the number, double every second digit.
- Add the digits of this result together.
- Add the resultant digits together, with the remaining (odd) digits of the ID number.
- If this sum is divisible by 10 (without remainder), the ID number is valid.
Using a fake ID number, here’s the math in action.
Mind blown.
[source:mybroadband]
