It's a classic case of unintended consequences.

Back in the '30s, our Uncle Sam decided it would be easier to tax his nieces and nephews if we all had numbers instead of names. And so the Social Security Number was born. No one suspected the SSN would become the beeper collar that tracks us like wildebeasts all through life. (Or did they? the conspiracy theorist in me muses.)

Anyway, SSNs were soon adopted by business as a convenient proof of identity. As a result, your unique SSN is the coveted master key that identity thieves use to breach your financial world.

And now, according to a recent article in the New York Times, thieves don't even have to steal your number. They can guess it.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon suggest that the basic information needed to crack a Social Security Number is the owner's home state and date of birth - which you can find proudly displayed on countless Facebook pages. Even more alarming, they point out that the last four digits of the SSN are the only component unique to the owner. So collecting only this information, as many businesses do, is not really a safeguard.

In light of this, what steps can you take to protect your and your customer's identities?

• Find another way to identify customers. Legislation now before Congress may soon prohibit businesses from collecting SSNs, so you might as well get ahead of the curve.
• Be over-cautious about the personal information you choose to publish online. Everything is useful to skilled identity thief.
• If you store any sensitive customer information, be aware of your state's data breach laws.

I've started a directory of state data breach laws which you can use to begin your research. If you don't see your state listed, check back soon.

Here's something you'd never learn from Mr. Wizard: you can make your own lie detector with just two cups containing exactly the same amounts of dry rice.

The first lie detectors were being used by the Chinese 1,000 years before Christ. They used rice in a simple two-stage process:

• Fill the suspect's mouth with rice
• Ask some obvious questions to elicit a known truthful answer
• Have the suspect spit the rice into a cup and count the grains
• Fill the suspect's mouth with rice - again
• Begin the interrogation
• Have the suspect spit the rice out into a cup and re-count the grains

If your suspect spit more rice out the second time, you found your man. Think about it. The Chinese made the simple observation that when you lie, your mouth gets dry. Therefore, if you were lying, less rice would stick to the inside of your mouth and you would spit more back into the cup. The question with the known truthful answer was a control to see how much rice would stay in your mouth when you weren't fibbing.

The Chinese lie detector worked on the same principle as modern devices: telling lies results in a predictable physiological response. If you can recognize and interpret that response, you can asses whether or not a person is lying.

Why do lie detectors work? As I understand it, they work because lying is an unnatural act, and the human body rebels against this act in measurable and predicable ways.

Before Americans had organized police forces, they had private security guards. In New England towns, men were hired to patrol the streets at night. Now how would you think these guardians were viewed by the colonists?

According to Robert J. Fisher in his Introduction to Security

Such watchmen were ... without training, had no legal authority, were either volunteers or were paid a pittance, and were generally held in low regard - circumstances that bear a remarkable similarity to observations in the RAND report on private security in 1971.

Why is it that we so often undervalue those who commit to protecting our lives and property?

People react to financial stress in different ways. Some get creative. Some get criminal.

According to a recent article in the Chronicle Herald, workplace fraud is widespread in Canada and the soft economy will only make it worse. As employees feel increasing financial pressure - and possibly bitterness over missed promotions and raises - some may view workplace theft as the company's "cost of doing business."

Joyce McGeehan and Sarah Drysdale of Grant Thornton LLP offer these suggestions for curbing workplace fraud:

• Make sure employees understand management's expectation of ethical behavior
• Institute a real "open door policy"
• Start a whistleblowers hotline where individuals can report suspected fraud without fear
• Use due dilligence when researching new hires
• Immediately remove access rights to computer systems when employees are terminated
• Determine where your organization is most susceptible to fraud, and remember that customer information and other intangibles are targets as well goods and cash
• Don't assume that fraud controls are in place - conduct a walk through and test your policies and processes
• Revisit fraud controls after policy and personnel changes
• Provide written instructions to make sure that managers know what to look for
• Pay close attention to all bank account activity
• Keep a close eye on expense reports and insist on original receipts